Commissioner Secretary, Rural Development Department and Panchayati Raj, Mandeep Kaur, today visited Kupwara district and convened a high level joint meeting of officers and DDCs/BDCs to review progress on ongoing development works being executed under Rural Development department- all under District and UT CAPEX Budget 2021-22 and all Centrally sponsored schemes.Chairman District Development Council, Kupwara, Irfan Sultan Pandithpori; Vice Chairman District Development Council, Haji Farooq Ahmad Mir; Deputy Commissioner, Imam Din; Director RDD, Kashmir, Director Finance RDD, Director Rural Sanitation, Director Panchayati Raj, Addl. Mission Director JKRLM, Additional Secretary RDD and PR, besides DDC members, BDC Chairpersons, district officers attended the meeting.
Exhorting upon the elected representatives to work proactively, Commissioner Secretary asked the grassroot leaders to involve themselves at the formulation of plan at all levels so as to discharge their mandated duties proficiently.Regarding staff shortage in the district, Kaur assured that new Block Development Officers will be posted soon as per requirement.While reviewing MGNREGA, she gave clear cut instructions to the concerned officers for ensuring completion of all the ongoing works before the end of fiscal year. She laid special emphasis on displaying the list of all approved works under different schemes of the department on Panchayat Information Board (PIB) at Panchayat Ghars. She clarified that not every work, undertaken at the Panchayat level under MGNREGA, has to be in 60:40 ratio, however, the ratio is to be maintained strictly at block and district level.
Emphasizing on gearing up the pace of works in Panchayats, she asked the XEN concerned to start the blacklisting process for all the contractors who do not finish their projects within the stipulated time frame so that development works are not affected. She also asked them to optimally utilize the first quarter of the financial year for speedy execution of sanctioned development works so that the funds are not lapsed.Kaur added that capacity building programmes for PRI members would be conducted to sensitize the representatives with the functioning of government schemes at the grassroot level.The meeting was also informed that many abandoned government buildings have been identified which will be made functional as Panchayat Ghars. She asked the Assistant Commissioner Panchayat to take complete ownership of schemes and programmes related to Panchayati Raj.Commissioner Secretary stressed upon ensuring internet connectivity in all the Panchayats in view of present online system of government functioning and other related activities.
Earlier, Chairman DDC highlighted various issues being faced by the Rural Development Department and the District Development Council.Deputy Commissioner briefed the meeting about the developmental profile of the district.Various issues and demands raised by the elected representatives included establishment of new model villages, demarcation of role and responsibilities of DDCs and BDCs and enhancement of MGNREGA supporting staff. Commissioner Secretary gave a patient hearing to all the demands and assured them that all their genuine issues would be redressed as per provisions of the schemes.Later, she inspected several ongoing works in the district which included inspection of works in Vodhpora and Wadder Natnussa B under 14th FC and MGNREGA ac. She also vivited Rurban cluster works at Khumriyal being developed under SPMRM (Rurban) mission.Later, she also interacted with the farmers participating in the third phase of Training Programme being held under the aegis of RURBAN Mission at Khumriyal.