Deputy Chief Minister, Surinder Kumar Choudhary, today chaired a meeting to review the performance of Jammu & Kashmir Khadi and Village Industries Board (J&KKVIB) and Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation (JKPCC) at Civil Secretariat Srinagar.
The meeting was attended by Commissioner Secretary Industry & Commerce Vikramjit Singh, CEO J&K KVIB Jagdish Chander, senior officers from the Board and district officers. In the review meeting of KVIB, the concerned official gave a PowerPoint Presentation to apprise the meeting of the functioning besides the physical and financial achievements of the Board.
It was apprised that there are three main schemes being implemented by the KVIB including PMEGP, JKREGP and SFURTI. It was further informed that the main objective of all the schemes is to generate employment opportunities, to foster a strong rural economy, enhance socio-economic status of rural artisans and promote environment friendly and sustainable development in Khadi or Micro Industrial Sector.
Highlighting achievements of the boards, the official informed that 19444 males and 13689 female have been provided benefits under PMEGP whereas 4010 males and 937 females were provided benefits under JKREGP to promote entrepreneurship in J&K in last six years. Besides, 8 cluster projects have been approved under SFURTI scheme.
It was also informed that under JKREGP, 1637 cases have been sponsored, out of which, 1148 have been sanctioned. It was further informed that 115 bee keeping training camps have been organised by KVIB in Kashmir division.
Addressing the officers during the meeting, Surinder Choudhary, who is also the Chairman of KVIB, emphasized on the need of active engagement of all stakeholders to amplify employment opportunities across the Jammu & Kashmir.
He reiterated the importance of making these employment generation programmes inclusive, ensuring equal opportunities for all segments of society, particularly marginalized communities, women and individuals with disabilities.
The Dy CM emphasised upon the officers to simplify the process of establishment of income generating units under such programmes for all. He maintained that the applicants should be provided training for better management of the units in order to maximise their gains.
Commending the Board’s efforts in employment creation across J&K, he urged the officers to adopt a robust monitoring and evaluation framework to guarantee target-oriented implementation of schemes.
He stressed the importance of aligning all activities with the overarching goals and objectives. Surinder Choudhary also highlighted the need for synchronized efforts by the implementing agencies and banks to ensure that the benefits of employment generation programmes such as PMEGP and JKREGP reach the target population effectively.
The Dy CM asked the Board to ensure convergence with other departments and establish forward and backward linkages with the skill training so as to provide end-to-end assistance and required handholding to the job seekers and young entrepreneurs.
Later, the Deputy Chief Minister convened a meeting with senior officials of Jammu & Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation (JKPCC) to review its functioning and issues being faced by the Corporation.
MD JK PCC, Bashir Ahmad Dar, apprised the Dy CM of several matters including filling up of vacant posts, deployment of manpower, finalisation of accounts of the Corporation and its court cases, liability on account of works executed on nomination basis, reconciliation of material on work sited, deployment of JKPCC machinery etc. The Dy CM assured that the issues apprised by JKPCC will be resolved in a phased manner.