Jammu: With huge public participation and enthusiasm, the ‘Back to Village’ program Monday entered its 5th day in twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch witnessing a multitude of activities in all the Panchayats by the visiting officers. People raised a number of issues concerning development of their areas with a candid expression of their expectations, as well, from the government especially their designated officers under the ‘Back to Village’ initiative.
Rajouri: The day witnessed added enthusiasm and vigour among the people of all 80 panchayats of district with holding of a slew of activities like Gram Sabhas, interaction with frontline government functionaries, PRIs, social activists and prominent citizens, visit to schools, health centers, AW centers, government assets, water bodies, electric stations. Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Sanjeev Verma, during his visit to Bajwal Lower A and Lower kangri panchayats of block Sunderbani interacted with PRI members, senior citizens and listened to the grievances and issues raised by the general public. The public projected several issues like augmentation in power supply, sanctioning of new water supply schemes, upgradation of roads and other developmental works. Div Com exhorted upon the people to go for rain water harvesting and conservation of traditional water bodies. He advised them to plant more trees so that groundwater table can be regenerated. He also asked for growing cash crops which will further increase the per capita income of the farmers. Verma took stock of public delivery system, functioning of Anagwandi centres, mid-day meal scheme and other development works being executed by different departments. He also got feedback from the frontline officers and officials and the PRI members regarding the implementation of the program. Div Com assured the public that the government will take necessary steps in improvement of the public delivery system through the feedback gathered from Back2village program. Deputy Commissioner Rajouri Mohammad Aijaz Asad visited various Panchayats including Kalsian, Dabberpotha, Mangla Devi Panchayat and assessed the implementation of the program. DDC interacted with PRIs and senior citizens who apprised him of issues confronting them. He interacted with the visiting officers and assessed the specific economic potential of the villages and employment opportunities. He acquainted people with various schemes and programs of the Government primarily meant for the poor people. DDC also inaugurated a number of developmental works in the block Nowshera and Seri and distributed set up boxes among the border residents besides presenting sports kits to the students. DDC was accompanied by Additional Deputy Commissioner, Nowshera Sukhdev Singh Sanyal, Chief Education Officer, MA Rather, EXN PDD Munshi Khan, EXN PHE Sunil Koul, Disty Panchayt officer, Abdul Khabir and officers of Revenue and other departments. Additional Secretary Disaster Management, Prasanna Ramaswamy, on his second day in panchayat Badhoon, conducted Gram Sabha and interacted with the public taking stock of their demands and grievances. He also had a detailed review of various schemes being implemented by different departments in the Panchayat. The visiting officers apprised the people of various central and state government schemes which are meant for their well-being. They took stock of issues and problems faced by the people including a range of area specific grievances and development requirements during the interactive sessions and Gram Sabhas. Lack of appropriate health and educational facilities, dilapidated system of electricity and water supply have been the main issues highlighted by the locals during the interactions. Other issues raised included up gradation and construction of school buildings, regular audit of the schemes, awareness camps regarding the social assistance schemes. The people highlighted the need of acquainting the farmers community with the latest technological innovations in the field of agriculture since major chunk of rural populace is engaged in this vocation for their livelihood. Later, the officers had one to one interaction with the frontline government functionaries regarding the status of schemes being implemented by them in the allotted Panchayats. They also sorted out some of the issues on the spot. The frontline workers highlighted schemes of their respective departments. The officers inspected the development works in the panchayats executed by the RDD, PWD besides inaugurating number of developmental works and launching new projects. Visiting officer also launched plantation drives besides inaugurating a number of new works.
Poonch: On fifth day of “Back to Village” program the designated officers conducted the prescribed activities in all panchayats of 11 blocks of the district.
The visiting officers interacted with the members of Panchayats and held detailed deliberation on area specific development needs, performance of PRIs and economic potential of the allotted Panchayats.
The officers recorded the issues and demands of the people of all the villages and assessed the progress on implementation of government schemes at the grassroots level.
The officers inspected schools, Aanganwari centers, MG NREGA works, Horticulture nursery along with other developmental works in their allotted panchayats in Poonch, Mendhar and Surankote besides inaugurating development works in various panchayats including PMAY houses, toilets under Swatch Bharat Mission, Bridal path at panchayat Noonabandi of Block NSSB ,Protection wall at Durangli Nala and bridal pakka path in panchayat Nangali of Block NSSB, Road in Gursai.
Plantation drives were conducted in lower Mankote, Khanetar Kalsan, Azmabad and Bainch panchayats of the district.
A cultural program was also organised by District Administration in collaboration with District information Center Poonch on the theme of Back to Village program.