‘Pick Up Pace’, Districts Told
Jammu- During a meeting with district administrations across Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta on Tuesday expressed concern over the delays in the allotment of identified works and requested early commencement of execution of these works.
Mehta chaired a meeting yesterday with the district administrations to take stock of progress achieved under the district development plans and various other government programs and schemes.
While observing that while some districts have shown good progress, few have still not reached the desirable level. Mehta directed the Divisional Commissioners to regularly review the district-wise progress in this regard and ensure timely completion of all developmental works.
Mehta directed the lagging districts with less than 50% allocated works to pick up pace and expedite the tendering process. He also appreciated south Kashmir’s Shopian district’s performance in allotting 99% of identified works.
Further, Mehta also reviewed the prevailing market rates of various minor minerals across all districts and directed the Divisional Commissioners to vigorously monitor the prices towards ensuring availability of construction material at reasonable rates throughout the Union territory. They were asked to submit a daily price report after due verification from independent sources. The concerned agencies were warned against any laxity in implementing the notified rates for various categories of construction material.
Similarly, the district administrations were directed to activate the ‘Commodity Price Monitoring Mechanism’ for ensuring sale of essential commodities at notified rates especially during the ensuing winter months. They were advised to regularly undertake market inspections and product quality assessments to keep a check on black marketing or over pricing of commodities.
Further, it was informed that the recent heavy rainfall/snowfall has been declared as a natural calamity and funds for providing relief to the victims have been released to the districts. As such, the divisional and district administrations were asked to ensure immediate disbursement of the relief amount.
With regard to timely snow clearance and maintenance of the road network throughout JK, Mehta re-emphasized the formulation of guiding standard operating procedures for minimum road damage, in consultation with domain experts. Additionally, the Public Works Department was asked to reinforce skilled manpower and augment snow-clearance machinery, particularly the SnowCat machines in all snow-bound districts.
The Chief Secretary further asked the Housing & Urban Development Department and Rural Development Department to expedite formulation of Ward/ Village Level Sanitation Plans with a special focus on scientific waste segregation and disposal. The Urban Local Bodies were also asked to improve the frequency of door-to-door waste collection towards maintaining high levels of cleanliness across cities and towns of Jammu and Kashmir.
Reviewing the ‘Apki Zameen, Apki Nigrani’ initiative of the Revenue Department, Mehta directed commencing the public scrutiny of the online revenue record of all districts by 08.11.2021. The public can now see their revenue documents and raise grievances online without the need of visiting revenue offices.
The meeting was attended by administrative secretaries of departments of Home, Housing & Urban Development, Power Development, Public Works (R&B), Youth Services & Sports, Transport, Forest, Ecology & Environment, Revenue, Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs, and Disaster Management, Relief, Reconstruction & Rehabilitation, besides Divisional Commissioners of Kashmir/Jammu, Deputy Commissioners of all districts and concerned HoDs.
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