Doda: Continuing his public outreach program, Governor N.N. Vohra visited Doda Saturday to make a first-hand appraisal of the pace of developmental works in this hilly district.
The Governor was accompanied by B B Vyas, Advisor to Governor and Sanjeev Verma, Divisional Commissioner Jammu.
Immediately after arriving here, the Governor had discussions with the Legislators of the area, including GM Saroori, Sh Shakti Raj Parihar, Daleep Singh Parihar, Neelam Kumar Langeh, Firdous Ahmed Tak, Naresh Gupta and Sham Lal Bhagat.
The Governor sought detailed feedback from the Legislators regarding the developmental issues of the district, particularly those relating to Roads, Health, Education, Power and PHE sectors.
The Legislators raised a number of problems relating to their respective Constituencies and called for speedy execution for the completion of long lingering projects and pending works in the district, in the larger public interest.
Governor called upon all the Legislators to enlarge awareness about the vital importance of the forthcoming elections to Municipalities and Panchayats for the establishment of grassroots democracy. The Legislators unanimously welcomed the Governor’s decision to hold the long pending elections and stated that Doda shall provide an overwhelming turnout at both the polls.
After his discussions with the Legislators, the Governor chaired a meeting of the provincial heads of all the major Departments and district/sectoral officers to take stock of the implementation of the ongoing developmental works.
Deputy Commissioner Doda, Dr Simrandeep Singh, gave a detailed presentation on the progress of various development works in the district.
Given the mountainous topography of the district and lack of dependable accessibility in some remote areas, the Governor sought specific details about the progress of schemes and projects in the road connectivity sector, particularly under CRF, NABARD and PMGSY which are being executed in the district.
The issues related to compensation of land and structures and forest clearances, which mostly cause delay in execution of connectivity projects, were discussed at length and appropriate directions were issued to the concerned to address such bottlenecks on priority.
DDC Doda informed the meeting that besides completion of 47 schemes under PMGSY, some other key projects accomplished in the district include District Hospital Doda, Sub-District Hospital Bhaderwah, Outdoor Sports Stadium Doda and Ganpat Bridge. “These projects have been already put to the public use,” he said.
Dr Singh also briefed Governor about the progress of various centrally sponsored flagship programs including MGNREGA, Swachh Bharat mission, PMAY (Urban) and PMAY (G) in the district.
Addressing the officers, the Governor called for co-ordinated and collective efforts at every level to get the State in general and areas like district Doda back on developmental track. He asked the officers to lead from the front in reaching out to the people and mitigate their problems and stressed the need for infusing new life in the institutions at the cutting-edge level to address the developmental concerns of the public.
Governor said pace of development works should be expedited and the officers should regularly conduct field visits to personally keep track of the progress of works.
Governor emphasised upon the officers to put in coordinated efforts to address various bottlenecks and execute the works within fixed timelines. He laid special emphasis on construction of Government Medical College, Doda, and directed the concerned agencies to accelerate the pace of work and ensure its completion within the stipulated timeframe. He directed DDC Doda to personally monitor the progress of works and welfare initiatives in all the departments and take monthly reviews in this regard.
Governor ordered release of Rs 4 crore to be put at the disposal of DDC Doda for execution of unfinished works within the set timeframe. He ordered that another Rs 1 crore also be kept at the disposal of DDC as untied grant for developmental purposes.
The Governor said the purpose of his visit was to ascertain the pace of various developmental works, review their physical and financial progress and to take firsthand information of the issues causing delays in the completion of various works. He said the focus of his administration is to provide transparent, people friendly and efficient public delivery system.
