Ang: Continuing with his outreach and developmental review program, Governor N.N Vohra visited Anantnag Tuesday. This was his second field visit; he had visited Budgam Monday and chaired a similar review meeting. After arrival Governor chaired a meeting of Legislators and representatives of political parties and heard their views and suggestions about the problems in their areas. They raised several developmental issues, particularly those relating to flood protection; augmentation of water supply and power and speeding up of road connectivity projects. Among those who met the Governor were Nazir Ahmad Laway, MP; Abdul Rehman Veeri, Altaf Ahmad Wani, Abdul Rehman Rather, Abdul Majid Bhat (Larmi), Farooq Ahmad Andrabi, all MLAs; and Sofi Mohd. Yousuf and Tassaduq Hussain Mufti, MLCs; and senior representatives of INC and CPI(M). Governor observed that prompt and effective action would be taken on the issues raised by the Legislators and the Administration would be geared up to meet the expectations of the people. Taking note of suggestions relating to flood protection and treatment of hot spots raised Governor directed the Deputy Commissioner and the District, Divisional and State Level heads of all the executing agencies to immediately commence repair and maintenance of all flood protection works. He directed the DC to also have an immediate safety audit conducted of all the bunds and embankments and ensure immediate repairs, wherever required. He also issued instructions regarding the procurement of an adequate number of de-watering pumps.
After his discussions with the political leaders Governor chaired a high level meeting of State, Divisional and District level heads of departments and undertook an extensive review of the development projects in the various sectors and informed the meeting that while the previous year saw an expenditure of rupees 199.03 crore the allocation for the current year is pegged at rupees 199.8 crore. He also highlighted the progress in the different sectors and informed that during the previous financial year more than 394.50 kms of roads had been macadamized in the district; 13 PHE Schemes, 3 Minor Irrigation Schemes, 7 R&B Schemes and 5 Bridges had been completed and commissioned. He also gave an overview of the progress under THE various Centrally Sponsored and All India Flagship Schemes and stated that every effort was being made to access all available resources from the funding agencies but to also complete the works within the stipulated time frames.
Referring to the schemes which were yet incomplete, despite full funding being available, Governor directed the executing agencies to immediately accelerate the pace of work and complete all the schemes without any further overruns. He also directed Principal Secretary Planning and Development to make available sufficient resources for land acquisition and utility shifting so that they do not become bottlenecks in the execution of various projects.
While reviewing the Education sector, Governor noted there were 92 schools in the district without supply of drinking water and 27 schools without toilet facilities. He directed the DDC to ensure that toilet and water facilities were provided to all schools in the districtwithin 30 days. In the Health sector, Governor expressed satisfaction at Hepatitis C testing in the district and directed Director Health Services to urgently provide mammography diagnostic equipment to the District Hospital. He also directed the DC and Health authorities to conduct an audit of all ongoing construction works and ensure their early completion.
District Development Commissioner raised demand for adequate funds for the completion of ongoing and languishing projects in the district. Governor issued on spot instructions for the release of an additional rupees 5 crore, including an untied amount of Rs 1 crore to be provided for the discretionary utilisation of the DC. As regards the larger projects he asked Advisor Vyas to analyse the requirements.
Advisor B. B Vyas, Principal Secretary, Planning Development & Monitoring Department, Rohit Kansal and Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Baseer Ahmad Khan, accompanied the Governor on his visit.
