District Development Commissioner Srinagar Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary Thursday reviewed the preparations and planning regarding the second phase of the Back to Village programme in the district.The second phase of the programme will be held later this month between 25 and 30 November. In Srinagar as elsewhere the focus will be on functioning of panchayats, individual beneficiary oriented schemes, public grievances, steps towards doubling farmer income besides infrastructural projects and rural assets building.The DDC speaking during the meeting laid special stress on strengthening healthcare and education in panchayats of Srinagar to bridge the rural-urban gap. He said the Back to Village programme offers a great chance to achieve participatory planning and redress grievances through convergence of resources and manpower and called on all concerned for all out efforts for best outcomes.It should be noted that 81 projects worth 5 crore rupees were recently sanctioned as an outcome of recommendations based on the Back to Village programme and as many as 140 recommendations have been submitted to administrative departments for intervention.The meeting was informed that the Srinagar administration will also conduct a "devolution audit" of functioning of departments in the district as part of this second phase of the programme.
The DDC asked for planning a similar schedule of programmes for all 35 administrative wards within municipal limits of Srinagar city where it was informed camps will be held by different departments to elicit public response for participatory planning and prompt grievance redressal.It was informed that the district administration in coordination with the SMC and various project directorates will organise a comprehensive fortnight-long administrative and developmental outreach programme for Srinagar city starting November 25 .PDD, PWD, PHE, PDD, F&ES, Sports, Education, FCSCA, Health, Forest, Drainage, SMC among other departments apart will reach out to people for developmental demands of city wards based on which annual developmental planning will be done.The first phase of the programme was held earlier this year in June. Based on extensive interactions with the people, spot observations and feedback received from the public, government officials submitted a Panchayat-wise report to the government highlighting requirements of different Panchayat halqas.The launch of the second phase of the Back to Village programme will help assess the progress of resolution of priority issues of Panchayats for which 5 crore rupees has been released to each district. This phase will also focus on acquainting people of a Panchayat halqa about various schemes with allocated funds to enable them to prepare plans under the Gram Panchayat Developmental Plan initiative.