Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Jal Shakti, Shaleen Kabra, today presided over a Public Darbar here and took stock of grievances and demands of people of the district. Chairman District Development Council Kathua, Col (Retd) Mahan Singh; Vice Chairman, DDC Raghunandan Singh; Deputy Commissioner, Rakesh Minhas; SSP Kathua Shivdeep Singh Jammwal; President Municipal Council Kathua, Rajinder Singh and ADDC, Ankur Mahajan among representatives of various delegations were present on the occasion.
The Public Darbar witnessed overwhelming response from all sections of the society where people apprised Shaleen Kabra of issues being faced by the locals seeking intervention in redressing the same. Regarding the suitability of High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) pipes instead of GI pipes, the ACS said that use of HDPE pipes is in line with the directive of GOI and are being used across the country after conducting thorough research and technical assessment.
ACS informed that JJM is being implemented through a transparent e-tendering system. He said that as the infrastructure is being built to meet the requirements for next 30 years and a huge quantum of work is involved including laying of a vast pipe distribution network. The requirement of pipe material is equally large for which timely availability was to be ensured to avoid delay in implementation of the mission without compromising on the fairness, accountability and transparency of the procurement process as envisaged in the GFR 2017 and Manual for Procurement of Goods 2017, he added.
Shaleen Kabra emphasized the critical role of Paani Samitis at village level as they are the owners of water resources for its upkeep and quality. Earlier, DDC Chairman submitted a Memorandum of demands including requirement of manpower in Rural Engineering Wing, utilization of left over funds from Capex for meeting out the contingencies caused by calamities and disasters etc.
He also highlighted other issues chiefly related to allocation of funds for provision of auditorium complex in the district, filling of vacant posts of BDOs, Doctors and Teachers.The DDC and BDC members also put forth the issues concerning their respective areas like resumption of online services for registration of Ayushman Bharat Cards, compensation for damaged crops, road connectivity in Border Villages, devising of robust mechanism for flood prone and affected areas, land for landless families, filling of vacant posts, road connectivity in Dhar Mahanpur, demands of ultrasound machine in Trauma hospital Mahanpur, early completion of Juthana bridge and Hatli Mahnu road etc.
President MC Kathua raised the issues like fund allocation for city sewerage plan, provision of funds for constructing parks, gyms etc, Shaleen Kabra also lent a patient ear to the grievances of industrialists led by President Ajit Bawa who projected issues like speedy disposal of requisite permissions required for setting up industrial units, NOCs, early release of turnover incentive, allocation of lands to small industrialists etc.
The deputation representing Beopar Mandal projected issues of adequate parking slots in main bazaars besides requesting for avoiding erratic power cuts during festival seasons. While responding to the issue of sale of land allotted to DPs of POJK, the ACS assured early redressal in the matter.
Shaleen Kabra, while interacting with line departments, called for adopting a public friendly approach in resolving the issues of public importance by making optimum utilization of resources. He said public darbar is a platform to obtain first hand appraisal from the gross root level besides reducing the communication gap between the public and the administration. Later, ACS also handed over motorised tricycles to the specially abled beneficiaries.