*Nod to Transformers Workshop, Ring Roads
Sanjeev PargalJAMMU, July 3: In a major boost for 14 Assembly constituencies of Jammu and Reasi districts (11 in Jammu and 3 in Reasi), Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today announced Rs 50 lakh for each Assembly segment of the two districts barring RS Pura reserve constituency, which has been given Rs 1 crore for initiating developmental works. This grant would be over and above the Annual Plan of the two districts and Constituency Development Fund (CDF) of the legislators.
An announcement to this effect was made by Mufti Sayeed at separate meetings of the District Development Boards (DDBs) of Jammu and Reasi districts held today in two sessions at official residence of the Chief Minister here. Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh, Chairman of the DDB Jammu and Cooperatives Minister Chering Dorjey, Chairman of the DDB Reasi were present in the meeting among others.
Official sources told the Excelsior that Sayeed made announcement of special package of Rs 50 lakh each for 14 Assembly constituencies of Jammu and Reasi districts (the amount was doubled to Rs 1 crore for RS Pura) following complaints by some of the MLAs that their segments lacked development in previous dispensation. Sayeed said he was well versed with the problems of RS Pura like water logging and worst condition of roads and, therefore, was doubling the amount to Rs 1 crore for this particular segment, which was represented by BJP MLA Dr Gagan Bhagat.
Mufti Sayeed made it clear to the Planning and Development and Finance Departments that Rs 50 lakh special package for every Assembly constituency of Jammu and Reasi districts, whose DDB meetings he chaired today, will not be taken into account of the Annual Plan of the districts and CDF of the legislators.
“This is the special and exclusive grant for development of Assembly segments,’’ he asserted.
Sources pointed out that special grant for 14 Assembly segments of Jammu and Reasi districts, which was worked out at Rs 7.5 crores, would go long way in developing the segments to some extent as the constituencies would also get funds from the district plan and CDF of the legislators.
The Chief Minister called upon the administration to explore possibility for construction of Ring Roads in Jammu and Srinagar cities to reduce traffic congestion in the cities. It may be mentioned that the Union Ministry for Road and Surface Transport had refused to fund the Ring Roads project and advised the State Government to construct it in PPP (Public Private Partnership) Mode.
On the issue of Fly Overs raised by the City legislators, the Chief Minister called upon the authorities to make projects for construction of Ambphalla-BC Road and Canal-Talab Tillo Fly Over and alternate road from Manda to Janipura as all these roads were facing huge traffic jams. He directed that work on ongoing Vikram Chowk-Convent Fly Over should be expedited to complete it well in time.
BJP MLA from Jammu West Sat Sharma is reported to have pointed out that work on Ambphalla-BC Road Fly Over was shelved under the influence of certain vested interests. The Chief Minister asked the bureaucrats to give specific reply to the query. Sources said, the authorities said as the project was delayed the funds meant for it were diverted to Vikram Chowk Fly Over. The Chief Minister assured that all possibilities will be explored for construction of new Fly Overs and alternate roads in Jammu City to overcome traffic congestion. He assured that the projects would be sent shortly for funding.
In another significant decision that was endorsed by Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh on the request of BJP MLA from Chhamb Dr Krishan Kumar, the Chief Minister agreed to the proposal for construction of office-cum-residence for the MLAs at the constituency headquarters. The proposal, in the first phase, will be applicable on the MLAs, who didn’t have their own houses at the Assembly headquarters.
Dr Kumar raised the issue of office-cum-residence for the MLAs at the Assembly Headquarters on the pattern of Haryana. Dr Nirmal Singh endorsed the move. Describing the issue as quite genuine, the Chief Minister said initially such a proposal will be implemented for the MLAs, who didn’t have their own house at the constituency Headquarters. He said the MLA was required to be present at the constituency Headquarters and must have official accommodation.
Later, sources said, the Government might go for construction of official accommodation for all MLAs at the district headquarters.
Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh, who holds the charge of Power in addition to Housing and Urban Development Department, announced construction of one more Transformers Workshop either at RS Pura or Khour-Chhamb for speedy repair of the transformers damaged due to overloading and other reasons.
He said appropriate venue for construction of the Transformer Workshop would be identified soon and it would be set up either in RS Pura or Khour-Chhamb. Of Rs 50 lakh required for construction of the Workshop, the Government will bear expenditure of Rs 40 lakh while Jammu-Poonch MP Jugal Kishore Sharma will contribute Rs 10 lakh from his Constituency Development Fund (CDF).
Presently, there was only one Central Workshop for repair of the transformers in Jammu due to which damaged transformers had to wait for long time for repair causing inconvenience to the people, whose transformer gets burnt due to overloading or technical fault.
The Deputy Chief Minister also ordered survey for setting up the PDD sub divisions in more areas of Jammu.
The Chief Minister advised the MLAs to make one Government school in their Assembly constituency as model school.
On the demand of NC provincial president and MLA Nagrota Devender Singh Rana, the Chief Minister ordered that slaughter house at Jagti should be shifted to some other place. The demand was also endorsed by Jugal Kishore Sharma.
Mufti Sayeed also proposed two model hospitals in every Assembly constituency to reduce rush of patients in the Medical Colleges and other main Government hospitals.
He declared that Jammu-Akhnoor road would be upgraded to the status of National Highway and four-laning work on it will be taken up soon.
An official handout said Mufti described the DDBs as mini-legislatures and institutions of inclusivity saying the decisions taken in the DDB meetings shall have to be implemented in letter and spirit.
“District Development Boards are the institutions of empowerment for the legislators. This well-established institutional mechanism makes them part of the implementation process at the ground level. I will leave no stone unturned to ensure that the credibility and authority of the institution DDB is restored fully,” Sayeed said.
Calling for making the mechanism of issuance of Permanent Resident Certificates (PRC) transparent and hassle-free, the Chief Minister, however, directed the administration to take strict action against those misusing the same. He directed the administration to ensure that the permanent residents of the State are not made to suffer for issuance of PRCs and other certificates.
Sayeed said the future of the State lies in education sector and the Government’s endeavor is to make J&K a knowledge society. He called for better coordination between universities and the implementing agencies to ensure that the benefits of the strides made in research percolate down to the people on ground.
He asked the Vice-Chancellor of University of Jammu to chalk out a comprehensive program to review the working of different campuses of the varsity at Bhaderwah, Ramnagar and Kathua. He further stressed the need for introducing job-intensive academic courses in the colleges and universities keeping in view the requirement of the industry and employment sector.
“Jammu has a huge potential in agriculture and horticulture sectors which needs to be tapped using latest technological inventions in irrigation, root stock and quality seeds and field interventions,” he added.
Sayeed emphasized that SKUAST Jammu was primarily aimed at giving a push to the extension services to the farmers in the Basmati bowl of and to give fillip to extension of horticulture and its allied activities to the farmers of Jammu region so as to harness the different agro-climatic zones.
In response to the demands by legislators for development of tourist spots in their respective constituencies, the Chief Minister called for identification of tourist spots in the vicinity of highways and preparation of DPRs to fully harness the tourist potential of Jammu division.
The Chief Minister said projects for beautification of Tawi banks will be taken up on priority and directed for preparation of DPR for beautification of areas from Raghunath Mandir to Mubarak Mandi heritage complex under heritage tourism project. He also directed for construction of sunshades on pathways leading to Bawa Wali Mata temple.
He called for identification of a tourist village under Government of India’s flagship rural tourism promotion scheme. He sought early black-topping of the road adjoining Surinsar Lake.
Deputy Chief Minister and Chairman DDB, Jammu Dr Nirmal Singh while speaking on the occasion said the Draft Master Plan of Jammu is ready and would be soon put in the public domain.
“Main focus of the coalition is development and we will ensure that Agenda of Alliance is implemented in letter and spirit,” he added.
In Jammu district the total plan allocation for 2014-15 was to the tune of Rs 107.14 crore which included Revenue component of Rs 46.08 crores. In the current fiscal the revenue component has been taken out thus total capex for 2015-16 is to the tune of Rs 193.27 crore.
In Reasi district, the total plan allocation for 2014-15 was to the tune of Rs 73.78 crore which included Revenue component of Rs 24.41 crores. In the current fiscal the revenue component has been taken out thus total capex for 2015-16 is to the tune of Rs 141.18 crore.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister of State for Education and Information, Priya Sethi projected for reviving old heritage complexes and lightening of pathway from Raghunath temple to old Dewana Mandir, adding that the ropeway project of Peer Kho to Bawa should also connect the Mubarak Mandi Heritage Complex.
The Chief Minister directed the Education Department to find out a way and if needed additional posts be created to meet the needs of the students desirous of studying Urdu as a subject.
MLA Gool Aijaz Ahmad Khan stressed for liberal funding to the Reasi district keeping in mind the poverty and remoteness of the district.
The Chief Minister announced an additionality of Rs 50 lacs for each constituency of Reasi district.
Speaker Legislative Assembly Kavinder Gupta, Minister for Social Welfare, Forest, Ecology & Environment Bali Bhagat, Minister for Finance, Dr Haseeb Drabu, Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Sukhnandan Choudhary, Minister of State for Information, Education & Culture Ms Priya Sethi, Member Parliament Jugal Kishore Sharma, Member Parliament Shamsher Singh Manhas, Vice Chairman Kissan Advisory Board Daljeet Singh, legislators Aijaz Ahmad Khan, Sham Lal Choudhary, Devender Singh Rana, Rajesh Gupta, Sat Pal Sharma, Kamal Arora, Dr Gagan Bhagat, Rajeev Sharma, Dr Krishan Lal, Advocate Ajay Nanda, Mumtaz Ahmad Khan, Ashok Khajuria, Master Noor Hussain, Charanjeet Singh Khalsa, Sham Lal Bhagat, Ramesh Arora, Surinder Mohan Ambardar, Jugal Kishore, Vikramaditya Singh and Surinder Choudhary were present.
Chief Secretary Iqbal Khandey, Principal Secretary Planning B.R. Sharma, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister B B Vyas and Administrative Secretaries of various departments, Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Heads of Departments and other senior officers attended the meeting.
Vice-Chancellors of University of Jammu, Central University Jammu and SKUAST Jammu were also present at the meeting.
DDC Jammu Simrandeep Singh gave resume of projects in the district and detailed plan layout for the current financial year.
The DDC, Reasi Sushma Chauhan presented details of the plan layout for the year 2015-16 for the district.
Major decision of Jammu & Reasi DDB meets:-
* Rs 6 crore additionality for Jammu district
* Internal roads of Jammu city to be developed under City Development Project
* Transformer workshops to be established at RS Pura and Akhnoor
* Jammu- Akhnoor road to be upgraded to the status of National Highway, four-laning of the road to be taken up
* Jourian-Pargwal Bridge and Samba-Sumb road to be taken up under CRF
* Deputy Commissioner to identify one place in Jammu West which can be developed as a public park
* DPR finalized for establishing a waste Management Plant at Jammu
* 7 smaller waste management plants being established in the muffasils for which 25 kanals land at each place have been identified
* Rs 5 crores released for tackling water logging problem
* Rs 15 lacs released for de-watering pump at RS Pura
* Explore possibility of establishing Municipal Committee at Miran Sahib
* De-addiction centre being established soon
* Rs 1 crore kept at the disposal of Principal GMC Jammu for needy cancer patients
* Work on sewerage project being expedited under GOI’s AMRUT project
* Ranjhan lift Irrigation scheme to be upgraded and augmented
* Milk Chilling plant being established in Nagrota
* Work on multi-purpose sports complex at Nagrota completed. Pending issues to be resolved at the earliest
* Stalled work on tube wells in Suchetgarh to be taken up soon
* One village in Akhnoor constituency shall be developed as Mango village
* Work on Degree College Khour to start soon
* 50 hand pumps to be installed in Chhamb constituency
* Go-ahead for Mangeri minor Irrigation Scheme in Chhamb constituency
* Rs 1.50 crore additionality for Reasi district
* Industrial Estate to be established at Reasi
* Old SDH building at Reasi to be developed as Maternity and Child Hospital
* Government to examine establishment of skill development institute at Gulabgarh
* Wind mill to be established at Bidda in Gool, Arnas
* INTACH to be roped in for preserving Reasi Fort
* Deputy Commissioner to identify land for construction of bus stand at Mahore
* Government to explore possibility of ITI at Mahore
* Palli-Tulli Bana road Phase -II to be taken up under NABARD
* R&B to examine Kissana foot bridge/Suspension Bridge
* Tourist Resort to be established at Daggan Top
* Electric sub-station at Reasi to be augmented.