Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. Nirmal Singh today advised the officers to motivate people to associate the celebration of Diwali festival with cleanliness and sanitation campaign as this festival has special significance in people’s lives.He said that students should be encouraged for this cause to make cleanliness and sanitation a regular part of their life. He also called for involving other stakeholders of the society in this drive until the desired target is achieved.The Deputy Chief Minister was speaking at a meeting of officers of Kathua district convened to discuss the arrangement being made in connection with the celebrations of Diwali festival.The Dy CM reviewed the arrangements made for security, maintenance of law and order, traffic regulation, installation of cracker stalls, drinking water and power supply, sanitation, medicare, checking of quality and price of eatables and deployment of fire tenders.Dy CM laid special emphasis on quality and regulation of rates of eatables, adequate supply of Kerosene Oil and ration to far off places, regulation of traffic, adequate stock of life saving drugs at Hospitals and PHCs, sufficient strength of Doctors and Para Medic staff and deployment of ambulances during the festival days.He directed SSP Kathua to constitute teams to keep check on anti social activities during the celebration.
Taking serious note of damage to public assets during development activities, DyCM directed the District Administration to keep check on this kind of working model where people are made to suffer during the execution of development works. He called for greater synergy among various departments while executing works of public importance.Earlier, ADC Kathua, Rishpal Singh apprised the Minister about preparedness being made by the District Administration in case there was any attempt from across the border during the festival season.Later, the Dy CM also reviewed the progress of works taken up under R-APDRP, IPDS, PMDP and DDUGJY schemes. He asked the executing agencies to fast pace the implementation of the schemes being undertaken for augmentation of transmission, distribution, and providing uninterrupted power supply to the people and electrification of the un-electrified villages and hamlets of the district.
He also took stock of the status of various works undertaken by the local bodies and directed the Executive Officers to submit proposal for additionality, if any to accomplish these projects.MLA Kathua, Rajeev Jasrotia sought establishment of cattle farm at Kathua for increasing number of stray animals in the town. He also raised concern over rising number of Dengue patients and directed the officials of Health and Local Bodies department to take preventive measures including fogging in high risk areas.The MLA also raised the issue of non-utilization of ISBT and delay in construction of Night Shelter Home at Kathua Bus Stand. Responding to the issues, the DyCM directed ADC to prepare a list of major pending projects in the district to review these separately and find solutions for removing bottlenecks for their timely completion.The meeting was attended by SSP Kathua, Suleman Choudhary, ACR, ACD, Chief Education Officer, AD Fire and Emergency Services, Tehsildar, CEO MC Kathua, Executive Officers of Municipalities and Engineers of PDD, PWD.