Minister for Rural Development Panchayati Raj, Law and Justice Abdul Haq today said that Rajouri and Leh districts have been nominated for national award for doing commendable work under MGNREGA.The Minister said this while reviewing functioning of Rural Development Department in district Rajouri.Abdul Haq, accompanied by Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali, said the districts have been nominated for national award for meeting all the criteria and following all parameters set under the MGNREGA.Abdul Haq congratulated the district administration of both the districts for doing commendable job. He said the department has created durable assets under MGNREGA. Breaking tradition of constructing lanes and drains only, focus is now laid on rural connectivity, micro irrigation, construction of bridges, plantation, land development and construction of playgrounds.Giving details about introduction of technology to monitor the assets, the Minister said all the assets in the districts have been geo-tagged. He said the geo-tagging is a touchstone of transparency that will enforce better monitoring, recording and management of developmental works at the cutting edge level.Stressing on the officials of other districts to take a cue from works done in districts of Leh and Rajouri, Abdul Haq said the nomination for award is imagined to motivate and recognize the excellent and exceptional work done by the department.
Mr. Abdul Haq said new initiatives taken by the department will change the dynamics of rural areas, and will blur the rural-urban divide. He said several innovative initiatives have been taken to make the functioning of the department accountable and transparent, with the aim that the benefits of the schemes would reach the rural masses well in time.He said MGNREGA is a vital scheme for rural development in terms of infrastructure development and generation of employment avenues that makes it imperative for all the stakeholders to implement it on a mission mode to achieve the envisaged goals.Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Food, Civil Supplies& Consumer Affairs (FCS&CA) Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali lauded Minister Abdul Haq and his department for doing commendable job in the district.Zulfkar Ali said many developmental works have either been completed or taken up by Rural Development Department, and a visible change is noticed on the ground in the shape of well constructed culverts, bridges, or roads speaks for the work done by the department.The Minister said that the same team that was working before has shown drastic results in the present regime under the guidance of Abdul Haq and it has become more vibrant and active.
He said number of complaints legislators used to receive in the past have drastically come down since new Government has taken over.While appreciating the department, the Minister stressed on the need to keep up with the good work. He said that creating a positive image about the department takes time, and one lapse by someone could waste all the good work carried out by the rest. Therefore, he said it is important that everyone reviews their work, and if any lapse is found, it is immediately corrected.Referring to Rural Department as people’s department, Zulfkar Ali said that Rural Development Department is community department, which is connected with everyone on ground.The Minister suggested Abdul Haq for early “delimitization” of Panchayats, and requested to start a recruitment drive in district Rajouri. He said that many blocks in the district are understaffed due to which one block officer sometimes has to look after two or three blocks in the area.Later, Chowdhary Zulfkar Ali also held a separate review meeting, where the Minister was updated with the status of various developmental works carried out under various scheme in the district. Minister for Animal, Sheep Husbandry and Fisheries, Abdul Ghani Kohli, MLA Nowshera Ravinder Raina, MLA Rajouri Qamar Hussain, MLC Vibodh Gupta also attended the meeting.