Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Abdul Haq Khan laid the foundation stone of a Foot Bridge, at Panchayat Hartyan, as a part of Project “Rahat” initiated by district administration for construction of 110 foot bridges for schools, remote hamlets, livestock routes, ration supply lines and other unconnected habitations in the Udhampur district.Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Abdul Haq lauded the innovative planning and resource mobilization by district administration for such a project which will be a boon for more than 20,000 students of 150 schools in district besides benefitting more than 1.60 Lakh populations directly in many ways. He assured financial support to the project from Rural Development Department.The Minister also felicitated the sarpanches of Panchayats East Mand and Sarar for getting Rajiv Gandhi Panchayat Sashaktikaran Puraskar for their innovative and best practices in Panchayati Raj from Union Ministry of Panchayati Raj. Cash rewards were also given to two VLW of these panchayats for their extra ordinary work.
Minister of State for Finance and IT, Pawan Kumar Gupta and MLA Ramnagar R S Pathania accompanied the Minister and expressed their views on the achievements enshrined under Project Rahat.District Development Commissioner, Udhampur, Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary gave a resume of Project Rahat out of which 110 are being constructed in 2015-16 in convergence of MGNREGA with DIF, Untied Grants, CSR, MPLADS, MLA-CDF, SCA and other contributions for funding . The DDC thanked the MP and MLAs for their generous contribution and called upon PSUs, Departments, Media Houses, and other agencies for sponsoring gap funding.Member Parliament and Union Minister of State, Dr Jitendra Singh have contributed Rs 25 Lakhs and Minister of State for Finance and IT Pawan Gupta Rs 15 Lakh out of their MPLAD and CDF as gap funding of around 20 bridges. Likewise, the DDC has received Rs 60 Lakhs from various sources as gap funding of around 26 other bridges. The project is based on public participation in planning, resource mobilization, execution and maintenance.DRDO Spin-off technology is being used for pre-fabricated steel bridges for ensuring cost-effectiveness and longevity of infrastructure apart from savings on maintenance. SSP Udhampur, Suleiman Choudhary, Director RDD, Jammu, M.L. Raina, ADDC Arvind Sharma, ADC Angrez Singh Rana, CPO Rakesh Jamwal, all district officers, sarpanches, panches and prominent citizens, large number of locals were present on the occasion.