Jammu: Chief Secretary, B B Vyas Friday chaired a meeting here to review the status of important issues relating to the Gurez Valley.
Principal Secretary, Finance Department, Principal Secretary, Health & Medical Education Department, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Commissioner/Secretary Public Works (R&B) Department and other senior officers attended the meeting.
Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Deputy Commissioner, Bandipora, Chief Engineer, PDD (M&RE) Kashmir and other senior officers attended the meeting via video conferencing.
Stock and supply position of essential commodities, status of health care facilities, electricity supply to Gurez valley and adjacent areas besides progress on the road connectivity front was discussed in the meeting.
Chief Secretary directed the Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir to hold fortnightly meetings to review progress on all relevant aspects as far as Gurez Valley is concerned and submit periodical reports to the office of the Chief Secretary.
To address road connectivity issues especially related to Bandipora-Dawar-Chackwali road, Pethakut-Kanzalwan and Kangan-Barnoi roads, Chief Secretary asked Commissioner/Secretary, PW(R&B) and Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir to take up with the concerned executing agencies to expedite time bound up-gradation of these roads. He directed submitting a status note in this regard.
On the electricity front, Chief Engineer, PDD (M&RE) Kashmir, informed that steps have already been initiated to connect Gurez Valley with Power Grid for which PDD is in the process of tendering out the project.
Principal Secretary, Finance informed that as regards requirement of funds for operating DG sets to supply electricity to the Gurez Valley and adjacent areas is concerned, 100% funds have already been released for the purpose to PDD. He said besides releasing the Rs 4.75 Crore projected earlier by the Department, Rs 1.15 Crore were also released as additional funds by the Finance Department.
Chief Engineer, PDD (M&RE) Kashmir informed that electricity is being supplied to Gurez Valley from DG sets for 6 hours a day instead of 5 hours as was the schedule earlier.
To augment the health care facilities in Gurez Valley, Chief Secretary asked Principal Secretary, Health & Medical education Department to ensure that specialist doctors and paramedics are posted immediately to SDH at Dawar and other Health Centers.
Chief Secretary received brief from DC Bandipora regarding status of rehabilitation of the Project Affected families (PAFs) of Kishanganga HEP. DC Bandipora was asked to ensure that allocations under various programs are timely and effectively utilized. He was further directed to submit a status note on all issues discussed in the meeting by Friday afternoon to Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir.
Chief Secretary also received brief from Divisional Commissioner Kashmir in regard to the status of land acquisition cases of various important projects including the National Highway and Semi Ring road project for Srinagar city, holding of DPCs of employees and daily status of Bio-Metric Attendance System in all Government offices in Kashmir Division. Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir was informed that to address these issues, Chief Secretary will hold a detailed review in the coming weeks.
Chief Secretary reiterated his earlier direction to the Administrative Secretaries asking them to hold video conferences (VCs) with Kashmir based Heads of Departments, DCs and other officers rather than calling them to Jammu for meetings to enable them to devote attention to matters of public importance and grievances of general public.
