Asking officers to speed up the execution of various developmental initiatives being taken in the Housing and Urban Development sector, Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh today said that the Government has initiated several flagship programmes which would ensure that people of the State get the requisite modern Housing and Urban amenities.Deputy Chief Minister was addressing the officers during a review meeting of the Housing and Urban Development Department the other day.The Minister of State for Power, Revenue, Syed Farooq Ahmed Andrabi was also present on the occasion.Commissioner Secretary Housing and Urban Development, Mr. Hirdesh Kumar, Municipal Commissioners of Jammu and Srinagar, Directors Urban Local Bodies, Jammu and Kashmir, Vice Chairmen, Jammu and Srinagar Development Authorities, Vice Chairman, LAWDA, Chief Town Planners, Chief Architect J&K and other senior officers of the department were present in the meeting.“The officers of the department should work in tandem and synergize their efforts in order to ensure the time bound completion of various developmental programmes and also hold regular meetings with each other to remove the bottlenecks, if any. We are committed to ensure holistic development of the State so that every modern housing amenity is provided to the people”, Deputy Chief Minister said and called for a sustained approach for addressing the challenges of urbanization coupled with providing facilities to the people.
Dr. Singh asked the officers to ensure that preservation and restoration of the world famous water bodies of the State is done properly and strict action should be initiated against persons found violating the already set parameters. He said that strict vigil and monitoring should be ensured to check the tendency of encroachment and offenders should not be let off easily.Deputy Chief Minister also directed the officers to come up with a comprehensive mechanism so that affordable housing facilities can be provided to the people. “With the increase in population, the need of having housing colonies and expanding vertically has increased and we have to ensure that people do not face any inconvenience and well planned housing facilities replete with all the modern housing and civic amenities are provided to them”, he maintained.Dr. Singh while referring to solid waste management asked the officers to ensure that necessary steps are put in place for the purpose. He said Commissioners of both the Municipalities should come up with an appropriate mechanism to be put in place for scientific waste disposal.Deputy Chief Minister also directed for early completion and finalization of the Master Plans of the twin capital cities of the State. He said time lines should be fixed for issuing the necessary notifications after putting the same in the public domain in order to receive feedback from the people so that it is made broad based.