Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Law and Justice Abdul Haq today chaired the District Development Board meeting to review the progress of various developmental projects in the district.

The meeting was attended by Member of Parliament, Nazir Ahmad Laway, MLAs Muhammad Yousuf Tarigami, Abdul Majid Bhat (Larmi), Mohammad Amin Bhat, Abdul Majid Padder, DDC Kulgam Talat Parvez, Heads of concerned departments and sectoral officers besides other concerned officers.

While addressing the Board Meeting, Minister directed the officers to prioritize those schemes and projects which are near completion but linger on due to meager funding so that they can be physically and financially completed.

The chairman exhorted the officers to take the development on mission mode basis so that its fruition is cherished by the general public. The Minister directed the officers that the board decisions should be implemented in letter and spirit as it acts as institution of empowerment for people, which should be strengthened.

The Minister called for judicious use of funds and consolidation of works as per the requirement and asked the executing agencies of various projects to construct buildings as per requirement, not as per the wishes of contractors.

Stating that the Government has strengthened monitoring system to bring more transparency in implementation of various flagship programs, he said that persons found wasting public exchequer will be held responsible and dealt under law. He also stressed on timely completion of projects.

 Earlier, DDC Kulgam briefed the Board about progress made in the implementation of various developmental projects till date in the current financial year 2017-18.

He informed the meeting thta Rs 33.45 crore have been spend in the district so far out of the available budget of Rs 56.59 crore in the district. The district has an approved budget of Rs 134.59 crore.

He further informed till date roads of 25 kilometres length have been completed during the current fiscal at the cost of Rs 16.94 crore while work is in progress for completion of 78.46 Kms at the cost of Rs 47.25 crore.

Under R&B sector, Four bridges have also been completed at the cost of Rs 7.42 crore viz Brazloo, Khee, Damhall-Laisoo, Malwan-Khaloora bridges . Work is also in progress on 10 bridges being constructed at the cost of Rs 81.13 crore. The Meeting was informed that work on six bridges will be completed by the end of this year.  The bridges were fully washed away during the floods of September 2014 floods.

The ACD Kulgam was also directed to start the work on construction of Akhal-Khulshan road under MGNREGS which shall be completed at a cost of Rs 10 lacs.

It was given out that construction of four buildings including  a Drug De-addiction Centre, IPD Block-A, ARTO Office and Sub Centre Adpora at the cost of Rs 24.22 crore . It was stated that there are 16 more projects under execution including construction of various buildings out of which four buildings will be completed during current fiscal that include including Polytechnic College Kulgam , NTPHC Srandoo, Twin Lecture Block Degree College Kulgam. In addition two blocks of residential quarters for sectoral officers at Lirrow will also be completed by the end of this year.

Meeting was further informed that 11 Ultra High Density Apple Plants Orchards have been established in the district while a Model Nursery has also been established.

The department of agriculture has also successfully introduced Mushkibudji and Kamad on 33 plots while High Quality Paddy Seed Villages have also been established over 126 hectares of land. The department of Fisheries provided huts to seven fishermen at the cost of Rs 5.12 lakhs.

It was stated in the meeting that nine Mini Sheep farms  have been established in the district this year while 25 bicycles along with ice boxes are targeted to be provided to fishermen for marketing purpose  

Under Education sector , the minister was informed that 19 smart class rooms have been established during last fiscal while 16 are at various stages of completion and 22 new smart classrooms have ben approved for the current fiscal. It was stated that 57 seasonal Centers have been established in meadows of zone Devsar and DH Pora for the children of Migratory population. It was given out that 23225 students have also been proposed under District Scholarship Programmes.

The Board was further informed that under MGNREGA, 10000  man days have been generated and 3731 works have been completed   so far while there are 1507 ongoing works under the schemes.  It was stated that 264 families covered under IAY/PMAY and 668 units have been verified under PMAY.

Under Swach Bharat Mission, the Department has taken up construction of 2856 IHHLs out of which 1072 IHHLs have been finalized. It was said that two blocks viz Pombay and Frisal will be declared Open-Defecation Free by the end of this year.

During the current year 14 Water Supply Schemes will be completed that will cover about one lakh souls of 61 habitations. While a project of Solid Waste Management in the district will also be completed this year which is under execution at the cost of Rs 16 crores.

Under Power Sector, seven towns of the district have been covered under IPDS scheme with estimated cost of Rs 16.99 crore while work has been tendered out for electrification of 150 habitations at the cost of Rs 21.78 crore under DDUGY.

It was stated that 374 Transformers were damaged this year out of which 351 transformers have also been repaired so far. The Chief Engineer PDD apprised the meeting that work on the workshop shall be completed within 3 months so that dependence of Central Workshop and SSI units could be curtailed down.

During the meeting legislators of the district raised numerous issues of public interest in their respective districts while the chairman of the board sought on-spot answers from the officers regarding various issues and passed directions for the redressal of the grievances.

Meanwhile, owing to the slow progress of work execution of different projects and in light of certain complaints regarding technical irregularities in construction of PHCs, the chairman directed the DDC to hold any enquiry into the matter.

Guest