Chief Secretary, B B Vyas today chaired a meeting to review the progress on construction of Individual Household Latrines (IHHLs), verification and geo-tagging of units under Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) in the state.Principal Secretary, Finance Navin K Choudhary, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Rohit Kansal, Secretary, RDD Sheetal Nanda and Mission Director, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan Mohammad Nazir Sheikh were present in the meeting while as Deputy Commissioners from various districts of the state participated in the meeting through video-conferencing.It was informed in the meeting that the state has achieved a target of 71.95% in IHHL coverage.The Deputy Commissioners from respective districts informed that 98.43 per cent target has been achieved in Anantnag, 67.44% in Bandipora, 67.59% in Baramulla, 62.99% in Budgam, 68.26% in Doda, 62.20% in Ganderbal, 63.93% in Jammu, 45.69% in Kathua, 57.23% in Kishtwar, 72.95% in Kulgam, 91.92% in Kupwara, 61.45% in Poonch, 98.64% in Pulwama, 84.53% in Rajouri, 66.74% in Ramban, 56.09% in Reasi, 64.21% in Samba and 48.41% in Udhampur.It was noted with appreciation by Chief Secretary that Leh, Kargil, Shopian and Srinagar have already been declared Open Defecation Free (ODF) and Anantnag and Pulwama are likely to achieve the status of ODF by the end of April.The Chief Secretary lauded the efforts of the Deputy Commissioners in achieving targets to a large extent and asked them to gear up their men and machinery for declaring the rest of the districts ODF in shortest possible time.He asked the Deputy Commissioners of Ganderbal and Anantnag to identify the spots on the highway leading to the Amaranth shrine and construct the toilets on these locations on war-footing. He was informed that the spots have been identified and the construction work has been started and that the work shall be completed by May 15, 2018.The Chief Secretary further directed the Deputy Commissioners to complete verification of the units and lay stress on sustainability of these assets. He was informed that IEC activities have been taken up at large scale in all districts of the state to ensure proper utilization of these units.
Enquiring about the activities taken up under Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (GSA), the Chief Secretary was informed that Social Justice Day and Swachhta Divas have been observed while as preparations are underway to hold Gram Sabha meetings in every Gram Panchayat on Panchayati Raj Divas on April 24 for discussing important issues and programmes for social and economic empowerment of the weaker sections of the society.Stressing that these reform-oriented schemes would definitely change the lives of people in rural areas, the Chief Secretary directed the officers to lay focus on organizing special camps for issuance of caste certificates, scholarships to SC/ST students and ensure these events get due publicity for building awareness among the people.He directed the Manager of Lead Bank including SBI, J&K Bank and Punjab National Bank to depute representatives in 124 villages identified by DFS in nine districts of the state to achieve 100% target in terms of opening accounts under Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), enrolment under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bhima Yojana (PMJJBY) and Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bhima Yojana (PMSBY).Meanwhile, Rohit Kansal asked the DCs to take Chief Minister’s commitments on priority and complete the works within the stipulated time. He asked them to establish strong rooms in their respective districts for proper storage of electoral material. In the meeting, Navin K Choudhary asked the Deputy Commissioners to work for achieving priority sector lending targets and identification of beneficiaries should be done on priority, besides taking proper care in preparing list of identified beneficiaries before sending it to the banks.The Chief Secretary directed to focus on Aadhaar seeding of bank accounts, DBT, doubling farmers’ income by 2022, MUDRA, Stand Up India and grant of educational loans to children belonging to weaker sections of the society.He asked them to review BADP in terms of outcomes and new steps taken under the programme, besides not taking up any work under BADP that cannot be completed in three years.He directed DCs of Jammu and Reasi to visit migrant camps in Jagti and Talwara respectively for carrying out renovation works in these camps.