Minister of State for Forests, PHE, Irrigation, Flood Control, Animal, Sheep Husbandry, Fisheries and Cooperatives, Mir Zahoor Ahmad has said that the Government under the leadership of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is committed for upliftment of weaker sections of society of the State especially the people living in remote and far-flung areas.This was stated by the Minister while addressing a large public gathering at Reasi today. He said that several Centrally Sponsored and State Sector Schemes have been launched in the State with the aim to improve the living standard of the people of State.During the tour, the Minister reviewed and discussed the pace of progress of developmental works under execution in PHE and Forest sectors in the district.The Executive Engineer, Reasi apprised the Minister about the activities of the Department and also briefed the Minister about the pace of work on progress of various ongoing developmental works.
The Minister was apprised that the construction work on 19 Water Supply Schemes (WSSs) are apace in the area and on completion of these projects thousands of souls of the area are to be benefited with adequate drinking water facilities. It was also informed that under Special Task Force (STF), the construction work on WSS Katra Town costing Rs 56 crore is almost completed and would be commissioned soon. It was also given out that Rs 51 crore have already been incurred on the project so far. It was further informed that an amount of Rs 7.85 crore has been utilized on construction of WSS Reasi so far against the cost of Rs10.56 crore and the work on the project is in full swing.The Minister directed the executive agencies to speed up the pace of work on all ongoing WSSs and other developmental works in the district and complete them in a stipulated time frame. He also asked the PHE authorities to work with utmost dedication and honestly. Mir Zahoor also passed the orders to conduct survey of the district and identify the habitations those have not been providing adequate drinking water facilities so far and prepare the Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) at an earliest and submit the same to the concerned quarter for accord of necessary sanction. He also asked them to formulate the DPRs for setting up of Water Supply Schemes for Pouni, Sangar and Kotla immediately and submit the same to the Government for arrangement of funds.While taking review of pace of progress of works taken under Forest Division, Reasi, Mir Zahoor asked the Divisional Forest Officer to ensure that there should be no forest land encroachments besides timber smuggling.
Enroute, several deputations met the Minister and apprised him about their individual and collective problems which include establishment of Closure in Pouni area. The Minister gave them patient hearing and assured them that their genuine demands will be looked into, however, in some cases, the Minister gave on the spot directions to the concerned for immediate redressal. The Minister asked the Forest Department for preparing of plans for setting up of Closure in Pouni Block so that plants of different fruits to be planted in the said Closure which he said will minimize the threats of man-animal conflicts as well as to fulfil the long pending demand of the people of the area.Earlier, the Minister released a booklet “profile of Government Sheep Breeding and Research Farm Reasi”.Later, the Minister visited Sheep Breeding and Research Farm, Reasi and took stock of its functioning.Senior Officers of different Departments and district administration were accompanied the Minister during his tour.