LG reviews winter preparedness, logistic arrangements of deptts, asks officers to be responsive

Srinagar: Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha Friday reviewed the winter preparedness and logistic arrangements of various departments in a meeting here at Raj Bhavan.
The Lt Governor directed the concerned officers to adopt a proactive approach to address the needs and requirements of the people; especially those living in far-flung and snow bound areas.
He asked them to be responsive and take comprehensive measures to minimize the difficulties of common people, work at grass roots level and reach out to the people to address their genuine concerns.
He also directed the officers to put committed efforts to ensure uninterrupted drinking water and power supply & timely restoration, availability of public utilities like firewood, ration, medicines and other basic amenities and essential supplies.
Necessary directions were passed to maintain sufficient stock of firewood, fuel, food grains, and medicines, especially in remote and difficult terrain areas.
The Lt Governor directed the Power Development Department to maintain the availability of buffer stock in District Head Quarters, besides ensuring proper functioning of existing transmission lines, transformers, electrical equipment, repair workshops, timely repairs and replacement of the damaged infrastructure and equipment.
After taking assessment from each DC, the Lt Governor set a deadline of 24 hours for urban areas and 48 hours for rural areas for replacement of the transformers barring difficult and inaccessible areas.
The Lt Governor stressed upon close monitoring of the functioning of the power distribution & transmission channels In order to ensure uninterrupted power supply during the harsh winter days.
While taking the preparedness review of Jal Shakti Department, the Lt Governor also set the deadline of the same day in urban areas and within the next day in rural areas for resolving the water supply and repair proble
Laying special emphasis on ensuring uninterrupted road connectivity and proper Traffic management, the Lt Governor directed the officers to rationalize the deployment of snow clearing machinery and equipment for snow clearance from all the main and internal roads.
All the requisite arrangements must be made in advance for the stranded passengers on the national highway and other important district and town roads, besides putting a check on unnecessary and unruly movements on the national highway for smooth vehicular movement, he added.
The Lt Governor directed the concerned officers to timely issue weather advisories and make every necessary emergency facility available to render critical help in any contingent situation.
He also passed directions for setting up of control rooms in every District Head Quarters and the DCs were directed to monitor and to resolve grievances of the people pertaining to power, water, essential supplies, health services, road connectivity, and emergency evacuation/rescue.
The Lt Governor asked the Head of Departments to closely monitor the winter preparations of their respective departments and directed all the departments to work in a synchronized manner and put in dedicated efforts to avoid any inconvenience to the people of J&K by putting in place a much comprehensive and viable winter preparedness mechanism.
The Lt Governor also took stock of the implementation of the directions passed in the previous meetings.
Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisors to the Lt Governor; BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner, Finance Department; Rohit Kansal, Principal Secretary, Power Development Department, and Information Department; Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to Lt Governor; Pandurang K. Pole, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir; M Raju, Secretary to the Government, Jal Shakti Department; Simrandeep Singh, Special Secretary to the Government, Department of DMRR&R; Mohammad Aijaz, Managing Director, Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited; Deputy Commissioners; Chief Engineers and other senior officers participated in the meeting, in person and through virtual mode. SJM Gillani, ADGP (Coordination) was also present during the meeting.