Minister for Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs and Tribal Affairs, Choudhary Zulfkar Ali today directed the concerned agencies to expedite the works on all ongoing projects under Tribal affairs for providing better facilities to the Gujjar and Bakerwal students of the state.The Minister said this in a meeting convened here today to review the progress of all projects being executed under Tribal affairs .The Meeting was attended by VC Gujjar and Bakerwal Board, Gulzar Ahmad Khatana, Commissioner Secretary Tribal Affairs, Kifayat Hussain Rizvi, Developmental Commissioner and Chief Engineer R&B Kashmir, Abdul Hameed Sheikh, Chief Engineer Jammu R&B Sudhir Shah, Special Secretary Tribal Affairs, Mohammad Shareef, MD Housing Board, Manmohan Singh, Director Tribal Affairs, Mohammad Rafi, Secretary Gujjar Advisory Board Mukhtar Ahmad Choudhary and DGMO Housing Board Ashok Khatana .
It was informed in the meeting that work on 23 Gujjar and Bakarwal Hostels/ Tribal Hostels is apace and will be completed as per the given timeline. Besides 6 residential schools in existing Gujjar and Bakaerwal Hostels in Kupwara, Bandipora, Doda, Poonch, Rajouri, Kathua, and Doda are being constructed with an amount of Rs. 2.50 Crore on each project. “Tribal Research Institute at Khimber is also underway and soon will be dedicated to the students. While as 40 percent work on 100 bedded PG hostel at Tulsi bagh has been completed so far,” officials informed.Concerned officers further informed that the work on five Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) is in process and will be completed as per given timeline.
On the occasion, the Minister exhorted upon the concerned officers to put in strenuous efforts and complete all the projects as per the given deadlines. He also directed the concerned officers to check and resolve the bottlenecks for the smooth functioning of these projects.Minister also directed officers to closely monitor the pace of works on ground and submit the progress report after every month.He also directed that renovation and repair works of several G&B hostels and schools should be completed by March 2018 without creating.oreover, the Minister said that allocated funds should be fully utilized to avoid lapse of these funds.