The District Development Board (DDB), Kathua, today met here under the chairmanship of Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Sham Lal Choudhary and approved Rs 169 crore annual plan outlay for the district for the financial year 2017-18.The approved capital (CAPEX) plan proposal includes Rs 11.47 crore lakhs for regular schemes, Rs 22.10 crore as loan component, Rs 122.92 crore central share and Rs 12.58 crore as state share for centrally sponsored schemes.Union Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office Dr Jitendra Singh; Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh; Vice-Chairperson, J&K State Board for Development of Scheduled Castes, Bushan Lal Dogra; Vice Chairman, J&K State Advisory Board for Welfare & Development of OBCs, Rashpaul Verma; Vice-Chairman J&K State Advisory Board for Development of Kissans, Daljit Singh Chib; Legislators, Rajeev Jasrotia, Kuldeep Raj, Jeevan Lal, and heads of concerned departments were present in the meeting.The meeting took a detailed review of physical and financial achievements of the last year’s plan outlay and also discussed targets for the current financial year.Chairman of the board, Sham Lal asked the executing agencies and departments to give further push to the development works and welfare schemes adding that the district administration should avail maximum possible benefit of the unprecedented flow of funds for various flagship central schemes. He further directed the officers to take public representatives into confidence while planning developmental schemes adding that meetings are held to formulate plans that will impact the lives of people in a favorable manner and decisions taken in these meetings should be implemented in letter and spirit.
The Chairman of the Development Board said that the officers are the tools of the Government and it is high time that they should make their approach people friendly and become proactive in resolving people problems.Dr Jitendra Singh while speaking on the occasion said that all the grievances at district level should be made online by creating a web page for every district so that redressal and monitoring of these can be done easily and in a transparent manner. He also emphasized on timely completion of development works and urged the officers not to terminate these works at any cost rather take help of any elected public representative so that issues can be resolved amicably for the larger cause.
MP, Dr Singh also emphasized that there is no dearth of funds but the amount of CDF and MPLAD should be used judiciously and on priority sector so that benefit can be seen on ground, among people. In the ensuing summer season, MP, Dr Singh laid stress on shifting power curtailments from low demand area to high demand area. “The onus of completion of various development plans lies on consensus between the executing agency and the public representative”, he added while calling for monthly meeting between the collectors and legislator for effective and sustainable plans.Dy CM, Dr Nirmal Singh apprised the board that 50% of the budget outlay has been disbursed in advance to give pace to development, while the remaining 50% will be given in the month of May.”Transparency and quality control are the measures through which the incumbent dispensation is quantifying the development works,” he said adding that to mitigate the problems of people during ensuing summer season, transformers will be arranged well in advance and to cater far flung areas transformers will be placed in convenient locations.
“Banks not only for transformers but also for motors will be established for smooth functioning of PHE and PDD department during summer season,” assured the Dy CM.He also appreciated the efforts of District administration in improving the child sex ratio, which got admiration from PM in radio program ‘Mann Ki Baat’. He further assured the board that existing transformer workshop will be consolidated as soon as possible and announced that from his CDF major chunk will be used for PHE sector.The District Development Commissioner, Kathua, Ramesh Kumar, in his Power Point Presentation highlighted the achievements of the last fiscal and also threw detailed light on the ongoing mega projects being executed in the district.On the occasion, the legislators informed the Chairman about various issues regarding their constituencies like timely completion of education infra, inadequate road infrastructure, healthcare and effective implementation of social welfare, augmentation in sports infrastructure and rural development schemes besides additional funds for face-lifting of Kathua town.