NEW DELHI: Jammu and Kashmir Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj and Law and Justice, Abdul Haq Khan called on Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and MoS PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh and discussed a wide range of State related issues.
During the meeting lasting over one hour, Singh emphasised the importance of getting all the projects completed within a time-frame. He said, he has called upon the State authorities to expedite the execution of the works, particularly relating to road construction and repair, which have been already sanctioned. This is more urgent in the case of roads in the hilly terrains. These, he said, also included rural roads under PMGSY as well as roads other than PMGSY which were sanctioned under Central Road Funds (CRF) like, for example, the Udhampur-Gordi Road for which there is a public demand for early execution.
For the first time, Singh said, we have a government at the Centre which is ready to provide all liberal help to Jammu and Kashmir and it is now up to the State Government to make the best use of this patronage. He said, the highest ever grant of Rs 2,800 crore was sanctioned for PMGSY roads and nearly all the pending CRF roads have been approved. It is hoped, he said, that there is no delay in the execution of the projects because this causes avoidable and prolonged inconvenience for the common people besides disturbing the allocated budget.
Singh appreciated the pragmatic and imaginative approach of Abdul Haq as a result of which it had been possible to successfully take up project Raahat for constructing Foot Bridges in rural areas so as to provide relief, particularly to elderly and children, who were unable to move out of their houses due to overflowing water in the rainy season. He also complimented Haq for having successfully completed nearly 30 such road bridges in district Udhampur through convergence of funds including MPLAD funds. He also requested for exploring the possibility of building more such foot bridges in the terrains where it was required.
Haq also spoke about the various steps taken to expedite the process of filling up the vacancies in the judiciary so as to ensure speedy disposal of justice.
Singh assured Haq of full cooperation from the Centre and said, he would take up the pending issues of the State Rural Development with the Union Minister for Rural Development Narendra Singh Tomar.