With an aim to provide relief to the people of remote villages of the, the Department of Rural Development is constructing 168 bridges in Udhampur district under project ‘Rahat’.This was revealed by the Minister for Rural Development Panchayati Raj, Law and Justice Abdul Haq Khan while reviewing the physical and financial achievement of RDD in current financial year in Udhampur District.The Minister stated that the department while continuing its efforts to increase the connectivity in rural areas took up the task to construct 168 bridges during the current fiscal and that till now it has completed 111 bridges while the work is in progress on other 57 bridges. He said the project has been named as Rahat (Relief) aiming to provide relief to the people of these villages who had to travel miles on foot in absence of proper connectivity.Minister said in absence of the proper connectivity in rural areas, many deaths were reported every year especially in summers as people had to cross streams on foot in absence of bridges. He said the efforts of the RDD will ease the problems of the people and will reduce the hardships caused to the public.He said the government is using the MGNREGA funds judiciously by creating valuable assets in rural areas.
He said the department is also constructing 27 playgrounds in Udhampur district so that the youth of this district are able to play there.The minister further stated that under various schemes of RDD including MGNREGA, the department has taken up 7359 works were in various sectors out of which 1313 has been completed so far while 6046 works in progress.He said durable assets are being created under MGNREGA besides providing jobs to the rural youth. He said the works including construction of foot bridges, roads, water harvesting tanks, Drought proofing, Micro irrigation, Renovation of traditional water bodies, land development, Flood control protection, Panchayat Ghars, Rural drinking water and Rural Sanitation.While stressing on maintaining proper sanitation in the district Minister stressed on the officials to implement Swach Bharat Mission in letter and spirit by constructing latrines so that the state can be declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) by October this year.While addressing the meeting, the Minister asked the concerned officers to ensure completion of targeted works of the year as early as possible and said in case of lapse of funds, the concerned officers will have to take the responsibility and that action will be taken against such officials.
The meeting was attended by District Development Commissioner, Udhampur Ravinder Kumar, Director Rural Sanitation, Nazir Ahmad Sheikh, Chief Planning Officer, Ashok Khajuria, Assistant Commissioner Development, Angrez Singh, PO IWMP, Sushil Kesar, District Panchayat Officer, Rachna Sharma, besides BDOs, JEEs, Panchayat Inspectors, Gram Sewaks, GRS were present on the occasion.Assistant Commissioner Development, Udhampur gave detailed power point presentation and briefed block wise progress of various developmental works under various schemes in 2016- 17 & 2017 - 18 of Udhampur District.On the occasion, the minister also gave the dead line to the concerned officers for the completion of developmental pace of pending works on 31 March 2018.Minister emphasized upon the concerned officers for effective implementation of rural development schemes so that the common masses avail maximum benefits of these schemes. He further directed the functionaries of the department to speed up the pace of works being executed in the district with maximum utilization of funds.Earlier the Minister inaugurated a Photo Exhibition organized by the Department of Rural Development Department showcasing the achievements of RDD in the district.