District Administration Kathua today convened Block Diwas meeting here atBaggan Billawar as part of the weekly Public Outreach Programme.District Development Council Chairperson Kathua Mahan Singh, Deputy Commissioner Rahul Yadav, DDC members, District and Sectoral officers besides a large number of people attended the programme.The programme witnessed scores of individuals and deputations including PRI members projecting demands and apprising the District Administration about the problems faced by the inhabitants of their respective areas.The people submitted memorandum of demands highlighting issues including better road connectivity, drinking water supply in uncovered areas and other amenities.The other main issues highlighted during the programme included provision of drinking water supply in uncovered areas of Baggan, clearing of pending pension cases, up-gradation of Billawar- Katli road etc.Speaking on the occasion, the DDC chairperson lauded central government for declaring Dyalachack-Billawar-Basohli and Kathua- Basohli-Bani-Bhaderwah-Doda roads as National Highways which will pave the way for development in these areas and give boost to Tourism activity in the unexplored areas of Kathua district.
Highlighting the major development accomplishments of the district, the DDC said projects like opening of GMC and Engineering College at Kathua, Keerian Gandyal Bridge has changed the development profile of the district. He said many projects including Six Lanning of National Highway, Shahpur Kandi project, International level Stadium at Hiranagar and Highway Village are coming up in Kathua which will result in creation of massive infrastructure along with job opportunities for scores of locals in coming times.The DDC said that with the functioning of three tier Panchayati raj system in Jammu & Kashmir the goal of development at grassroots level can be achieved at much faster pace. He stressed on the PRI representatives and Officers of concerned departments to work in tandem to achieve desired development targets in a set timelines.On the occasion listening to the demands of people, DC gave patient hearing and passed on spot instructions to the concerned departments for time bound resolution of all the issues.Responding to the demands highlighted by many individuals and PRI members, the DC stressed upon the officers to prioritise the grievances.On the demand of clearing of pending pension cases under Social Welfare, DC called upon PRIs to ensure submission of all the eligible cases in Tehsil units of Social welfare for timely disposal of deserving applicants in a time bound manner.While responding to the demand of drinking water supply put forth by different individuals, the DC said a layout to provide tap water to every home under Jal Jeevan Mission has been planned with the active participation of PRIs and the work of which will commence soon.The DC, Rahul Yadav also gave a brief account of initiatives taken by the government to support Youth by offering multiple schemes to make them self-reliant. He said schemes like PMEGP, JKREGP, MUMKIN, TEJASWINI etc have been launched to extend hand-holding to the unemployed youth to earn livelihood by availing these tailor made schemes.