STATE TIMES NEWS
NEW DELHI: Member of Parliament from Udhampur-Kathua-Doda Lok Sabha constituency, Dr Jitendra Singh, who is also the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of DoNER, on Friday formally intimated the Union Ministry of Rural Development as well as the Parliamentary Affairs that, during the first six months of his tenure as MP, he has so far adopted two villages from his constituency to be developed as “model” villages under the “Saansad Aadarsh Gram Yojana” (SAGY) and an additional third village to be developed as “smart village”.
Elaborating further, he informed that the two villages to be developed as model villages include his ancestral native village Kalota-Malhori in Tehsil Khillani of District Doda and Sangwali in Tehsil Hiranagar. The third village namely, Saddal-Panjar in District Udhampur, which was washed away by recent floods, will be developed as the first “smart village” in the State of Jammu and Kashmir, he added.
Providing an update on the work accomplished so far, Dr Singh disclosed that an amount of Rs.37.50 lakh has already been placed at the disposal of Deputy Commissioner of Samba as first installment to carry forward the plan for Village Sangwali in Hira Nagar, while the proposal for Kalota-Malhori as “model village” has been put forward to Deputy Commissioner of Kathua, who is the nodal officer for the Udhampur-Kathua-Doda Lok Sabha constituency and will soon release the first installment for the purpose to Deputy Commissioner of Doda.
As far as Village Saddal-Panjar is concerned, considering the complexities of topography and the risk of landslide, Dr Jitendra said, a foreign collaboration NGO has been engaged to develop a “smart village”.
The first phase involving construction of hutments is already over and the entire project for developing a complete “smart village” will be accomplished within the next 18 months, he added.
Dr Singh further informed that within the five-year term as Lok Sabha MP, he plans to adopt three more villages under the SAGY scheme and the identification of these villages will be done soon in consultation with the newly elected MLAs from various assembly segments in his Lok Sabha constituency as well as representatives of civil society.
In total, therefore, Dr Jitendra clarified, during five years, five villages will be taken up for development as model villages and an additional sixth village for development as smart village in the Udhampur-Kathua-Doda Lok Sabha Constituency. Of the five villages adopted under the SAGY scheme, the development work is sought to be completed fully for three villages in the first phase, followed by the other two villages subsequently.
Dr Singh said that while following the guidelines of SAGY scheme, inputs also sought from the local population of concerned villages in order to give due place to their priorities and requirements. The participation of local villagers in the developmental activities will also be encouraged in order to make them serious stakeholders in the growth and progress of their respective villages, he added. The process of eliciting opinions and suggestions from the MLAs in this Parliamentary Constituency has already been set in motion, he said.