Minister for Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Law and Justice, Abdul Haq today convened a joint meeting of officers, engineers of different Departments associated with execution of works under approved Border Area Development Programme (BADP) 2017-18 Model Village Projects in Lolab, Kupwara and Karnah constituencies wherein 11 model villages have been approved under the programme.District Development Commissioner Kupwara, Khalid Jahangir briefed the meeting about the works undertaken by the different executing and implementing agencies in these approved villages and presented the progress report of ongoing works under action plan devised by the concerned agencies to provide hassle-free services to the people.It was given out that an amount of Rs. 204.60 crore has been approved for the development of the approved model villages which would be replete with all the basic facilities.The Minister impressed upon all the stakeholders to work in coordination and utmost dedication so that bottlenecks, if any, are removed at an earliest for completion of the ongoing development works within the model village projects by utilizing all available resources so that people of these villages are able to avail all the facilities as per their requirements and needs.
Abdul Haq called on the officers to prioritize road connectivity, drinking water supply, irrigation facilities through creation of Water Harvesting tanks in Kandi areas, health facilities, creation of infrastructure for sports activities, promotion of high-density plantation as per the requirements of the people with the projects.
He set the deadline of November 10, 2017 for completion of works under first installment in all MVPs under BADP/Convergence plan and asked the concerned to focus on water conservation, health care, irrigation facilities and other related requirements.
Later, various public deputations also called on the Minister, who is on a two-day visit to Lolab constituency. The deputations apprised the Minister about the issues confronting them. He gave them a patient hearing and said that their projected demands would be addressed in a time-bound manner. He assured that works under the approved model villages project would be taken in hand as per the action plan devised earlier by the district administration.