‘37% of the earmarked Budget to be spent on development and infrastructure projects’
JAMMU- The Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir is going to see massive infrastructural development across all sectors in the next one year. Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha made this remark while speaking at Zee Salaam’s special program “Naya Savera”.
Speaking on a host of issues with Zee Salam’s editor, Deepak Tiwari, the Lt Governor outlined the goal of establishing a responsive, citizen-centric administrative setup and accentuating the infrastructure across all sectors in the UT with special focus on connectivity, health and education sectors.
The Lt Governor spoke on the length and breadth of the government’s initiatives for bringing development and prosperity in the UT and observed that the highest ever budget is envisaged for Jammu and Kashmir to make the UT a model of Development.
At Rs 1,08,621 crore, the budget surpasses all previous allocations and 37% of the earmarked Budget to be spent on development and infrastructure projects, the Lt Governor maintained.
For revamping the power sector in J&K, short term , medium term and long term measures are being taken and in the coming two years J&K will get quality power supply round the clock, said the Lt Governor.
Regarding the development of the Education and Health sector, the Lt Governor observed that the health facilities in the UT have seen significant improvement. Seven new medical colleges and hospitals, 2 AIIMS, 2 Cancer Institutes, Bone Institutes and Child hospitals are being established in Jammu and Kashmir. Under the New Industrial Development Scheme, a provision of Medicity and Educity is also kept for providing better medical facilities through private hospitals, he added.
The Lt Governor remarked that Jammu and Kashmir is the only region in our country which has IIT, IIM, two AIIMS and two Central Universities. Task force has been made to implement the New Education Policy. For revamping school education and promoting vocational courses, 607 vocational labs have been set up in schools across the UT. There has been a significant increase in the number of enrollment in government run schools and higher education institutes, the Lt Governor said.
People of J&K are talented and have huge potential. They lacked platforms, which are now being made available to them. Keeping in view the developmental aspirations of the people of J&K and for providing smart transportation, Metro projects in Jammu and Srinagar cities will be completed in three years. Two IT towers, each in Jammu and Srinagar would come up in the next 16 months to develop the Information technology sector and to provide platforms to the young technological talents of the UT enabling them to work in the field of Artificial intelligence, Robotics, 3D printing, etc. We are also focusing on establishing facilities like data centres which are significant to meet modern times requirements, the Lt Governor maintained.
On the significance of public participation in the governance process, the Lt Governor said that dedicated efforts have been made to put a mechanism in place so that people of J&K can have their say in the developmental process.
Divisional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, Senior Superintendents of Police have been asked to meet the public regularly. Block Diwas are being organised every Wednesday to resolve the general issues of the people.
The UT Government has initiated a new programme “Awaam ki Baat” which aims at strengthening the concept of public participation. “More than 200 people have written to me and this number will increase in future. Suggestions from the people will help us in decision making and formulation of policies for the welfare of the public”, added the Lt Governor.
Underscoring the measures taken by the Government for empowering grass root democratic setup, the Lt Governor said that after the DDC and BDC elections, every district has been allocated funds to the tune of Rs. 10 crore so that the public representatives can meet the developmental needs of their respective areas.
On the question of addressing the issue of unemployment, the Lt Governor said that dedicated focus has been given to develop the culture of entrepreneurship in the UT. He informed that during the Back to Village program, visiting officers were directed to identify two young people from every panchayat willing to start their own business with the help of easy loan facility through J&K bank. “Around 20 thousand youth against the initial estimated 9 thousand youth from all the panchayats across J&K have been provided with financial assistance ranging from Rs.2 lakh to Rs.10 lakh to start their enterprises” the Lt Governor added.
Replying to the question on establishing Dry Ports, Custom Clearance facilities and setting the target of Rs 5000 crore export, the Lt Governor said that all these steps are taken to give a boost to the Industrial sector in J&K. He further said that with the coming of the New Industry Development Scheme of Rs. 28,400 crore and long term incentives under the scheme, the Industry sector of the UT will see significant growth in the coming days.
Speaking on promoting Kashmir’s Saffron and horticulture produce of Jammu and Kashmir, the Lt Governor said that GI tagging of the Saffron has been done to make it available on the Global markets and similar GI tagging would be done for other horticulture products to increase their value in the international markets.
The Lt Governor further informed that a target of 5500 hectares High Density plantation has been set and several reforms in the land laws have been done to make the High Density plantation easy and viable.
On the preparations for this year’s Shri Amarnathji Yatra, the Lt Governor said that efforts are being made to provide best in class facilities and enhance the holding capacity of the pilgrims at prominent places along the National Highway.
Regarding setting up of e-office to reduce the burden on state exchequer and removing the risk of losing files and property, the Lt Governor said that the e-office shall be implemented across the government offices to streamline the file flow and reduce the record carriage burden of Darbar Move.
Later, the Lt Governor also felicitated young achievers in their respective fields on the occasion.
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