While presiding over the review meeting of developmental projects in Mandi district at Vipasha Sadan Mandi today, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur directed the officers to ensure time bound completion of various developmental projects so as to avoid price escalation and also ensure that the benefits of these developmental projects percolate down to the persons at the lowest ebb.Chief Minister said that under the various housing schemes, the State Government has set a target of constructing about 10000 houses for the poor homeless in the State during the current financial year, which was a record in itself. He said that over 1000 people have been benefitted under housing schemes in the district by providing them assistance of Rs 14 crore during the last about two and a half years. He said that as many as 1,04,869 people were being provided social security pension in Mandi district and a budget provision of Rs 156 crore has been made during this year. He said that 31530 new pension cases have been sanctioned during the last about three years in the district.Jai Ram Thakur said that since the Medical College Ner Chowk has been designated as a Dedicated Covid-19 Hospital, the workload have been shifted to Zonal Hospital Mandi, thus special emphasis needed to be laid on ensuring better facilities by this hospital. He also directed the authorities of Medical College Ner Chowk to take emergency medical cases. He said that there were 28 ventilator supported beds in Designated Covid-19 Hospital and over 300 isolation beds in District Covid-19 Hospital, Covid-19 Care Centres etc. to facilitate the corona patients.Chief Minister said that the coronavirus pandemic has forced everyone to rethink and re-plan their developmental priorities, due to the adverse affect on the economy. He said that all the officers needed to re-plan their priorities and also re-fix the goals for time bound completion of various developmental projects in the area.
He said that about Rs 12,000 crore unspent money was lying with various departments, which needs to be identified and utilized for undertaking developmental works. He said that officers must ensure effective utilization of this money to ensure that pace of development does not suffer for want of funds.Jai Ram Thakur said that despite being a second largest district after Kangra, Mandi district has done exceptional well in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic. He said that the rainy season was more prone for coronavirus, thus greater precautions needed to be taken. He said that focused approach was required to achieve the desired results. He also directed the PWD officers to ensure proper maintenance of roads in the State. He said that priority must be given on completion of those projects which were nearing completion.Chief Minister said that to restart economic activities in the State, the State Government has given various relaxations under the Unlock-IV. He said that still we all need to be more vigilant. He said that use of face mask and maintaining of social distancing was important to check spread of this virus. Earlier, the Chief Minister inspected the under construction ‘Sanskriti Sadan’ at Kangnidhar Mandi and directed the officers for time bound completion of this Sadan.MLA Sundernagar Rakesh Jamwal urged the Chief Minister for time bound completion of PWD Rest House, staff quarters, subway etc. at Sundernagar. He said that work on Rs. 33 crore water supply scheme Dehar should be expedited to be implemented under BRICS. He also urged for bringing whole Sundernagar town under Sewerage scheme. He also urged the Chief Minister for providing adequate funds for the ongoing developmental projects. MLA Balh Inder Singh Gandhi felt the need to proper drainage facilities in Balh area especially from Ner Chowk to Balh.
He also urged the Chief Minister for construction a rest house in his area.MLA Nachan Vinod Kumar said that funds be provided for accelerating the work on Cluster University Basa. He said that steps must be taken to upgrade various roads in his constituency. He said that about Rs 40 crore projects were being implemented in Nachan Vidhan Sabha area under Jal Jeevan Mission.MLA Drang Jawahar Thakur also urged the Chief Minister for creating separate PWD Division for Drang. He said that this would go long way in improving road network in this hilly area.MLA Karsog Hira Lal said that work on Karsog bye-pass should be taken in hand soon to solve the traffic problem in Karsog town. He said that construction work of ITI building Karsog needed to be expedited so that it could be completed by December, 2021.MLA Jogindernagar Prakash Rana said that work on 180 meter Sanda-Sandhole bridge should be expedited to ensure its completion by March, 2021. He also urged the Chief Minister for expediting construction and matelling of roads in his area. He said that work on water supply schemes of the area also needed to be speeded up. Deputy Commissioner, Mandi Rugved Thakur welcomed the Chief Minister and conducted the proceedings of the meeting. He said that as many as 400 people, have been found Covid-19 positive in the district and seven deaths have been reported due to Covid-19 till date. He said that Covid-19 mitigation plan was in place for the district and e-initiatives were being implemented effectively. He said that as many as 25 corona warriors were also found positive, out of these 24 have been cured and only one was still under treatment.ADM Sharwan Manta, SP Mandi Shalini Agnihotri, Superintending Engineers of PWD, Jal Shakti and HPSEB Ltd and other officer also attended the meeting.