Advisor Baseer reviews functioning of RDD; asks for timely disbursement of MGNREGA payments

Srinagar:Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Baseer Ahmad Khan, Wednesday held a meeting to review functioning of Rural Development Department at SKICC, Srinagar.
The meeting was attended by Director, RDD Kashmir, ACDs of Kashmir division, Superintendent Engineer and Executive Engineers of REW and DPOs.
While reviewing status of Panchayat Ghar infrastructure, Advisor Baser Khan directed the officers to identify land for construction of pending panchayat institutions at the earliest. He sought the report regarding participation of panchayat bodies in development works. He also reviewed progress regarding the instructions issued to officers in previous meeting.
Regarding BDC and DDC offices, Advisor asked the Director to identify buildings where from these Committees will operate. He was informed that, at present, BDCs are functioning from Block Development offices.
Earlier, Director gave a detailed presentation regarding the development targets achieved by the department in Kashmir. He informed that the achievement under labour budget stands at 94% while percentage of works completed since inception in MIS during 2020-21 is 24.3%. He also informed that geo-tagging of assets completed under Geo-MGNREGA Phase-I is 99%.
Advisor said panchayat secretaries have greater role towards ensuring works are executed according to the approved plan and completed in time. He asked the concerned to maintain diaries of their field inspections and submit the same to higher authorities for evaluation. He directed officers to submit a report on features of every project that have been completed or under progress besides asking them to expedite the ongoing works for timely completion.
While reviewing the status of MGNREGA works in all the districts, Advisor issues strict instructions to officers regarding timely disbursement of payments. He directed them to ensure completion of geo-tagging within week’s time. He said Aadhar linking should also be completed in next 15 days.
Advisor stressed on officers to prepare the flood convergence plan for four major rivers of South Kashmir. He also directed for preparation of database regarding total command area achieved and reclamation of land through implementation of various RDD schemes. He directed the field functionaries for installation of citizen information boards at the location of works done by RDD.
Advisor said field inspections should be a regular feature and field functionaries should submit their weekly, fortnightly and monthly tour diaries to higher authorities.
Regarding PMAY-G, Advisor instructed officers to complete the backlog cases and weed out the cases which does not fit in the flagship programme. He directed officers that houses constructed under PMAY should also be covered under Swachh Bharat and Jal Shakti phase I and II.