STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Stressing the need for following both ‘whole of Government’ and ‘whole of society’ approach in improving delivery of services to the people in Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Secretary Dr Arun Mehta on Monday directed the District administration to immediately roll out the Digital Jammu initiative and promote the usage of the digital platforms for improvement of service delivery and ushering in transparency and equity in the system.
The Chief Secretary made these observations during the review of the developmental scenario of District Jammu in a meeting held at Convention Centre, Jammu.
He said while the ongoing transparency and developmental initiatives have helped improve the lives of the people, the real change will happen only if the government and the civil society joined hands to tackle the multipronged challenges currently being faced in improving the lot of the people in J&K.
Earlier, Deputy Commissioner, Avny Lavasa gave a presentation on the latest status of works and budget expenditure in various sectors.
In the School Education Department, the Chief Secretary assessed the implementation of New Education Policy, NEP-2020 and directed to ensure rationalisation of teaching staff within 15 days in the schools.
He called for adopting the School Complex System under which teachers are able to teach in multiple schools. He stressed that teacher- pupil ratio should be maintained in all schools.
The Chief Secretary directed that toilets be made functional in all the schools and laid stress on saturating kindergarten classes, increased vocalization, and ensuring biometric attendance in schools.
Dr Mehta called for conducting social audit of primary schools by local panchayat members and instituting a system of student feedback from class 6 onwards.
In Higher Education, he directed that GDC Jourian and GDC Bhagwati Nagar should be completed on time.
The Employment Department was asked to organise workshops with the support of allied departments. The departments implementing self employment schemes were directed to support the unemployed youth to establish their units in the district.
The Chief Secretary informed that the largest ever recruitment was done by the government last year since independence.
He said that the government is giving a major thrust to self employment and the same will be promoted in the upcoming Back to Village 4 programme.
He directed that people need to be provided livelihood through various wage employment programmes, MGNREGA and self employment ventures according to capability and educational qualification.
He also directed Employment Department to formulate a District Employment Plan.
The Rural Development Department was asked to ensure door to door segregation of solid waste collection in rural areas with the help of PRIs. The department was also asked to get the all soak-age pits completed by October 2, this year.
Dr Mehta directed the Deputy Commissioner to conduct monthly meetings with officers of Industries department and the stakeholders to speed up setting up of units in the new and upcoming industrial estates.
“A number of industries are coming up in the UT and this would provide major thrust to employment to local youth”, he added.
While reviewing roads, the Chief Secretary highlighted that they constitute vital infrastructure for all sections of society and should be kept pothole-free, well maintained and litter free in rural as well as urban areas.
Assessing the progress on the Jammu Ring Road the Chief Secretary directed that parts of the road should be opened for traffic by October 15.
He further directed that the works on the Jammu-Akhnoor four-lane project should be completed during the current month.
The Chief Secretary reviewed the Jal Shakti Department and called for immediate resolution of all issues to ensure regular water supply.
Reviewing the Jammu Power Distribution Corporation Limited, Dr Mehta called for ensuring quality supply of electricity, transparent billing and strict realisation of electricity dues from consumers.
He also directed for strict enforcement and stern action against power theft.
The Chief Secretary directed that the Bone & Joint Hospital Bakshi Nagar, Super Speciality Cancer Hospital and Sub-division Hospital RS Pura should be completed by October this year.
Chief Medical Officer Jammu was directed to ensure saturation of AYUSHMAN Bharat cards.
Directions were also issued for completion of works approved under the languishing scheme (JKIDFC).
Among various other works, Dr Mehta underscored the need of completing all works under NABARD within a year.
The Chief Secretary also reviewed the project of Tawi Barrage and Riverfront and urged for expediting the projects.
He directed completion of works on Amrit Sarovar by 2nd October.
He further asked the district administration to achieve ODF+ status under Swachh Bharat Mission-Gramin by October 2.
He directed for swift vaccination drive against the Lumpy Skin Disease while reviewing the animal husbandry sector and its sectoral cooperatives.
The Chief Secretary was also apprised of developments in the agriculture and horticulture sectors. The Agriculture department was asked to prepare a District Agriculture and Export Plan and to make all out the efforts for increase in production of oil seed and croping intensity.
He was also informed about the GI tag applications for local products like Guchhi, Rajma, Kalari, Anardana and other local products in the horticulture sector.
The Social Welfare & Education Departments were asked to saturate scholarships schemes.
Dr Mehta directed SSP Jammu to ensure that the drug peddlers are nabbed and booked. He was also asked to generate awareness about the drug menace.
The Chief Secretary also directed for setting up a helpline number of the Social Welfare Department for the assistance of the general public.
Implementation of other schemes like Samridh Seema Yojana, PMAY (Urban), SAKSHAM scholarships, self employment schemes, Nasha Mukt Bharat Abhiyan, Ayushman Bharat etc were also reviewed by the Chief Secretary.
The Chief Secretary instructed all officers to proactively utilise and promote digital services and platforms for public services and called for greater inter-departmental coordination.
Principal Secretary Jal Shakti Department, Principal Secretary Higher Education Department, Commissioner/Secretary Revenue Department, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Commissioner, JMC, Jammu, Directors, HODs and district heads of various departments attended the meeting.
