Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh today directed for ensuring the proper and focused attention to the development of the Jammu so that the people living here get benefitted from the various developmental initiatives and programmes.Chairing the District Development Board meeting of Jammu district here today, the Deputy Chief Minister said that the funds earmarked for the developmental activities and programmes should be utilized to the maximum and the local representatives of the respective areas and constituencies should also be involved in their formulation and implementation, so that the scope of the developmental initiatives gets broadened. He said that the schemes being implemented would ensure that the socio- economic profile of the people of the area gets a fillip and Jammu comes up as one of the major developed areas of the country.Dr Singh said that Jammu being the winter capital of the state has to cater to a large chunk of population especially those coming from catchment districts and other divisions as well, therefore, the need of providing quality civic amenities and housing needs is very essential which need to be factored in a proper perspective planning process.
Asking the executing agencies to strictly follow the project completion deadlines, Dr Singh said that projects under execution should be completed within the stipulated time frame so that the benefits percolate down to people at the earliest and the cost escalation factor is also arrested.Deputy Chief Minister while asking the officers to ensure the summer preparedness directed creation of a buffer of water pumps and lift motors in view of the coming summers and irrigation season in the district. He also directed for exploring the possibility of providing tube wells to the areas of the city especially the old city and also directed the Irrigation and Flood control officers to ensure proper irrigation facilities to the rural area of the district especially in the coming months of cultivation.The Deputy Chief Minister asked the officers to take up with NHAI the issues of providing more road furniture and emergency response equipment like ambulances on the newly constructed Jammu-Udhampur National highway patch and rehabilitation of vendors of Nandni who were dislocated due to road widening. He also directed ensuring availability of Urdu knowing teachers in the schools where ever needed besides undertaking a safety audit of all the school buildings.
Deputy Chief Minister also directed for fast pacing several prestigious projects of the Jammu like the Mubarak mandi , Road widening, four lanning of Akhnoor road, Ropeway Project, Tawi River Front development and asked the executing agencies to hold regular meetings with each other, so that these are completed within the stipulated time and the cost escalation factor is effectively arrested. He also directed the officers to explore the possibility of providing more flyovers and grid separators to regulate the traffic movement in the Jammu city and adjoining areas.Later, the board approved an outlay of Rs. 205 cr under District sector Plan.Minister for Health & Medical Education, Bali Baghat; Minister for PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Shyam Choudhary; Minister of State for Tourism& Culture, Priya Sethi; vice chairmen of various boards besides legislators Sat Sharma, Choudhary Sukhnandan, Devinder Singh Rana, Rajesh Gupta, Dr. Gagan Bhagat, Kamal Arora, Rajeev Sharma, Devinder Manyal, Dr. Krishan Lal, Ashok Khajuria, Ramesh Arora, Charanjeet Singh Khalsa, Surinder Ambardar, G.L. Raina and Vikram Randhawa were present in the meeting and raised several issues related to their constituencies and public importance.Also present in the meeting were Administrative Secretaries of several Departments, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, heads of various Departments and officers of Jammu district administration.