The District Development Board (DDB) today approved an outlay of Rs 141.24 crore as CAPEX Budget for 2018-19 for Reasi district in the meeting held under the chairmanship of Minister for Cooperative, Ladakh Affairs Chering Dorjay, here.The approved plan included Rs 1099.49 lakh under regular schemes, Rs 2110.71 lakh as NABARD loan component, Rs 10039.98 lakh under CSS central share, Rs. 867.66 lakh as CSS state share and Rs 6.63 lakh as loan of State share for development of district Reasi during the year 2018-19.Minister of State for Finance & Planning Development Ajay Nanda, Rajya Sabha Member Shamsheer Singh Manhas, Vice Chairman, Jammu and Kashmir State, Advisory Board for Development of Gujjar and Bakerwals, Choudhary Gulzar Ahmad Khattana, Chairperson, J&K State Social Welfare Board, Prof. Nirmal Gupta, Vice Chairman for State Advisory Board for Development of Kissans Daljit Singh Chib, Vice Chairman, J&K State Advisory Board for Development of Scheduled Caste, Bhushan Lal Dogra, MLA Gool-Arnas Aijaz Ahmed Khan, MLA Gulabgarh, Mumtaz Ahmad Khan, MLC Sham Lal Bhagat, District Development Commissioner (DDC), Reasi, Prasana Ramaswami Ji, SSP Reasi, Tahir Husain, various Divisional Level HoDs and other senior officers of line departments besides, the officers of district administration were present in the meeting.
Describing District Development Boards (DDBs) as the institutions of empowerment for legislators, the Minister said that this well-established institutional mechanism makes them part of implementation process at the ground level. He stressed that the decisions taken in the District Development Board meetings shall have to be implemented in letter and spirit.The Chairman said that the officers have to achieve all envisaged targets after utilizing the allocated funds in different sectors and added that action would be initiated against those who take their assignments very lightly and surrender amount at the end of the year.The Chairman directed the executing agencies and administration for conducting joint visits besides gearing up the pace of progress so that major amount involved with the various schemes is utilized without any obstruction.Speaking on the occasion, Ajay Nanda urged upon involving public representative in the developmental process. “The holistic and sustainable development of the state is core agenda of the present dispensation” he said adding that several flagship programmes have been launched in this regard. He also expressed concern over lack of spending from CAPEX budget.
The Minister strongly advocated creation of separate Tourism Development Authority for Reasi on account of constant increase in rush of pilgrims visiting MataVashno Devi Shrine in holy town of Katra. He said more than one crore tourists have visited Katra and Shiv Khori during last year. He said there are vast potential of tourism in the district which needs to be tapped properly.The Minister urged for providing special Toll Tax exemption to the people of Reasi at Ban Toll Plaza on National Highway. He said that National Highway Authorities of India have exempted Katra bound vehicles from Toll Tax and stressed that same exemption needs to be given to Reasi bound vehicles.District Development Commissioner, Prasana Ramasawami , through a power point presentation gave a detailed resume of the financial and physical achievements under various development schemes and components of capex budget.The Board was informed that, of Rs 141.24 crore, an amount of Rs 46.90 lakh has been earmarked for Agriculture and allied sectors, Rs 5443.88 lakh for Rural Development including MGNREGA, Rs 532.23 lakh for Irrigation and Flood Control, Rs 37.75 lakh for Power Sector and Rs 1879.75 lakh for Roads and Buildings Sector for the year 2018-19.The Chairmen of different boards and the legislators also spoke on the occasion and highlighted the concerns of their field which included hassle-free movement of nomadic population during their migration in summer, raising local mandis for farmers, KCC cards, labour cards, MGNREGA job cards, keeping vigil on closure of government schools in higher reachs of Gool Arnaas, Mahore and Gulabgarh, providing of sufficient staff in health institutions in the district, shifting of district Hospital, Reasi to new premises, providing adequate ration etc.The Board approved several decisions for development of the district.