Minister for Rural Development & Panchayati Raj and Law & Justice Abdul Haq today exhorted upon the officers to make concerted efforts to maximise outreach of the Rural development schemes for ensuring development at the grassroot level .
The Minister said this after inaugurating check dams at Sandrote and Saili in Dansal constructed under Integrated Watershed Management Programme for harnessing water so that the people living in the vicinity can use it for irrigation and other purposes.Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said that people participation holds key to the implementation of programmes like IWMP aimed at restoring the ecological balance by harnessing, conserving and developing degraded natural resources such as soil, vegetative cover and water to provide sustainable livelihoods to the people residing in the watershed area. He said that state government has started various development programmes for the overall growth of the state and special focus has been laid on the providing better amenities in the rural pockets .
The Minister also inspected a tube well constructed under the Programme at Saili and directed the officers to take proper care of the works being done by them.Project Manager, IWMP Mohd. Yusuf Malik was also present on the occasion.Later, the Minister reviewed the progress of various programmes under J&K State Rural Livelihood Mission including UMEED, Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture (CMSA), Non-Pesticide Management (NPM) and J&K Milk Producers Cooperative Limited in Bishnah.The Minister was apprised that 855 Self Help Groups formed in Bishnah under UMEED benefitted 9,075 women. It was also informed that under CMSA, four gram panchayats have been covered in Bishnah benefitting 376 farmers of the area.
The Minister was further apprised that 376 families have been given training of making Ghana Jeevamrutham,150 families have been trained in making Dhruve Jeevamrutham and 82 families have been educated about the practice of seed treatment. A total of 30 families each have been given training of making NPM Medicine and Pheromones Trap.Reiterating the vision of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti for empowering women, the Minister said that women should come forward and take optimum benefit of UMEED so that they can create their own source of revenue generation. The priority of our government is to make women self-reliant and give them new platforms for realizing their dreams, he added.Additional Mission Director, JKSRLM Kapil Shamra, Advisor Farm Livelihoods, NRLM DV Raidu and other officers of the department were present on the occasion.