Srinagar: Stating that government is committed to making Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) more empowered and vibrant in true sense, Lt Governor Manoj Sinha on Thursday termed the active participation of PRI in implementation of schemes, projects as a key driver of overall development.

The three-tier of Panchayati Raj System is a bridge between policies and their on-ground implementation, Sinha said during his interaction with District Development Council (DDC) chairpersons of Kashmir division.

Taking note of the area-specific needs & developmental aspirations of the people, Sinha also sought feedback on the pace of the developmental projects and their implementation on ground, besides other issues of public importance in their respective constituencies.

A similar interaction with DDCs of the Jammu Division will be held soon, he said.

Speaking on the occasion, the Lt Governor reiterated the J&K government’s commitment to make Panchayati Raj Institutions more empowered and vibrant in true sense.

”The integrated approach to institutionalise the active participation of PRIs in implementation of various schemes and projects will be a key driver of the UT’s overall development agenda. The three-tiers of the Panchayati Raj system is a bridge between policies and their implementation on the ground, and the administration is putting concerted efforts to strengthen the grassroots level of the democratic setup,” the Lt Governor said.

Terming the Panchayati Raj system as the cornerstone of participatory governance in J&K, the Lt Governor observed that the Funds, Functions and Functionaries have been made available to the Public Representatives for grassroots development. For invoking a greater role of Jan Bhagidari in the development process, the PRIs will be further strengthened in the near future, he added.

Sinha called upon the DDCs to work in collaboration with the administration at all levels, and also assured full cooperation and support of the government towards meeting the aspirations of people and their elected representatives.

The UT Government is treading successfully on the five principles– Transparency in governance, Empowering Grassroots Democracy, People’s Welfare, Accelerated Development, Creation of Employment opportunities which were laid down one year ago for the development and prosperity of Jammu & Kashmir, observed the Lt Governor.

Acknowledging the roles and responsibilities of the DDC Chairpersons for the development of their respective districts, he said that people of J&K have high aspirations from the DDC Chairpersons in fulfilling their development aspirations and needs, and formulation of historic District Capex Budget 2021-22 with the active participation of District Development Councils was a step ahead in this direction.

The Lt Governor appreciated the functioning of the DDC Chairpersons and said that their rich experience and knowledge would complement the government’s efforts in the holistic development and welfare of the people of J&K.

During the interaction meeting, the DDC Chairpersons apprised the Lt Governor about their District-specific issues related to the development and public welfare.

Addressing the issue of providing continuous water supply to every household under Jal Jeevan Mission including those residing in far-flung and remote areas, the Lt Governor said that directions have already been passed to the concerned Secretary for the constitution of a team for monitoring the specific mission only.

On being apprised regarding power outage in Gurez region due to heavy snowfall, the Lt Governor said that the UT administration is working on the underground cabling project with Power Grid Corporation of India for providing power to Gurez even during the heavy snowfall season. The DPR of the project would be completed this month, he added.

While informing the achievements of macadamisation of roads under PMGSY in the UT, the Lt Governor said that the UT administration has cleared a large number of cases and completed various works pending for several years.

He further informed the DDC Chairpersons that work is also going on in full swing to provide pothole free roads and this year, the department aims to make 6000 km road length free of pot-holes. ”Soon the remaining villages left without proper road connectivity would be connected in the next two years”, he added.

On being informed about the shortage of staff in the offices of line departments in some districts, the Lt Governor said that rationalisation would be done to strengthen the departments facing a shortage of officers.

The Lt Governor also spoke about various schemes and programs viz. Mission Youth, Mumkin, Parvaz, Hausla and other such initiatives under which employment opportunities are being provided to young boys and girls of the UT along with promoting entrepreneurship. He informed about the target of extending the financial assistance to 50,000 youth set by the government for this year’s Back to Village program.

The Lt Governor directed the concerned officers to provide upgraded and new vehicles to the DDC office. He informed the DDC Chairpersons that DPR has been formulated for providing them accommodation and office facilities in every district.

The Lt Governor also enumerated the measures taken by the government pertaining to providing reliable power supply to the consumers, besides connecting the left-out habitations; employment generation; maintaining transparency and accountability in the government’s functioning.

The DDC Chairpersons would visit the other regions of the country to get the first-hand apprisal of the working of Panchayati Raj System in other States and UTs of the country thereby increasing their exposure and knowledge base, it was informed.

Srinagar: Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha Thursday inaugurated the Modernized & Upgraded Government Silk Weaving Factory at Rajbagh, Srinagar marking an important step towards the revival and holistic development of the silk industry in the Union Territory.

Government Silk Weaving Factory was established in the year 1937 and has been in operation since then. Over a period of time, most of the machinery had become obsolete and the factory suffered huge damage to the infrastructure in the floods of 2014.

As part of the revival plan, the Century-old Government Silk Weaving Factory Rajbagh has been upgraded and modernized with a project cost of Rs.23.54 crores under the World Bank Funded Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project. Under the upgradation plan, a new factory with state-of-the-art preparatory and weaving machinery has been installed.

Speaking on the occasion, the Lt Governor observed that the government will begin the branding of Kashmir silk to provide it an international market. “We will soon launch Rajbagh Silk as a new brand for Kashmir silk. Moreover, the Tourism Department will work in tandem with the department of Industries and Commerce to ensure ease of access to Kashmir silk market for our tourists”, he added.

The revival plan of Jammu Kashmir Industries Limited (JKI) is being implemented focusing on making the organization as a profitable and viable entity, besides providing livelihood support to the marginalized sections of the society, especially those associated with the cocoon rearing and production of wool, the Lt Governor said.

The revamped Government Silk Factory would provide a cocoon consumption market to approximately 50000 cocoon growers/ farmers of the Kashmir Division. Pertinently, in absence of such a big consumption Centre for the local cocoon, the farmers were exploited by middle men and major quantity of cocoon would get exported to other parts of the country without any value addition.

The Government Silk Weaving Factory Rajbagh will now be capable of producing 4,50,000 meters of silk fabric per annum creating a viable economic cycle and employment opportunities both directly and indirectly. Further, the Government Silk Weaving Factory Jammu established in the year 2020 is providing direct market to the cocoon rearers of the Jammu Division, added the Lt Governor.

In the second phase, the Industries department will restore two heritage buildings of the silk factory. This will have a design studio, quality control lab & areas for tailoring where customers can select the fabric & talk to the master tailors, it was informed.

Later, the Lt Governor also interacted with the Artisan clusters of Willow wicker (Ganderbal), Papier machie (Zadibal), Crewel (Noorbagh) and Wool (Bandipore). The artisan clusters have been established under the World Bank funded Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project for the skill enhancement of the artisans, training them in the management of the artisan owned clusters and developing market linkages for their products.

A presentation was also made by the experts of the consultancy engaged by JTFRP for the adaptive reuse of the Rajbagh Silk Factory, and the steps proposed for the retrofitting of the old factory, using the old campus for dyeing, yarn certification and other beautification measures, besides linking the campus with the tourist circuit.

Baseer Ahmad Khan, Advisor to Lieutenant Governor; Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary, Ranjan Prakash Thakur, Principal Secretary to Government, Industries & Commerce Department; Pandurang K Pole, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir; Dr. Syed Abid Rasheed Shah, Chief Executive Officer, JKERA/JTFRP and Mohammad Aijaz, Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar present on the occasion.

Dr. Hina Shafi Bhat, VC KVIB and other senior officers of the concerned departments were also present.

By: Sheikh Danish

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir’s Lieutenant Governor Thursday said the maiden film policy being unveiled by the UT admin was a historic step and the main aim is to bring back the lost glory of Bollywood for which Kashmir was once famous.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function at SKICC here, the maiden film policy is indeed a historic step and “I am sure that the golden days will return again for which Kashmir was once known for. The UT admin is doing its best to revive the Bollywood and film policy is a step towards that.”

Speaking on the occasion, famous film actor Amir Khan said that he hasn’t seen any other place as beautiful as Kashmir. “People are more beautiful than this beautiful place,” he said. “I am glad that we are here for shooting.”

Khan hoped that one day he would like to see Kashmiri movies and Kashmir’s own film industry. “I would like to see Kashmiri film industry contribute to the national industry like other states are doing. I hope to see Kashmiri films soon.” (KNO)

Srinagar: Union Home Secretary, Ajay Bhalla, while chairing a high-level meeting to review the public health response to COVID-19 urged all Union Territories to vigorously follow the strategy of testing, tracking, and treating COVID cases in their jurisdictions, besides, focusing on speedy vaccination of the eligible population towards successful containment of the COVID pandemic.

Chief Secretary, Jammu & Kashmir Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta along with Additional Chief Secretary, Health & Medical Education Department, besides Chief Secretaries/Administrators of other Union Territories including Andaman & Nicobar, Chandigarh, Dadar & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Delhi, Ladakh, Lakshadweep, and Puducherry participated in the meeting.

While reviewing the COVID situation in the Union Territories, the Home Secretary said that the UTs have witnessed a constant decline in cases over the past few weeks. “The new cases reported and COVID fatalities have come down to 4,244 and 54, respectively over the last two weeks”, he added.

The Home Secretary asked the UT Administrations to remain in a state of readiness to mitigate future surges, besides undertaking  a combined strategy of test-track-treat COVID cases, micro containment of emerging hot spots, speedy vaccination, enforcement of COVID appropriate behaviour, and ramping up of COVID dedicated medical facilities for successful containment of the disease.

It was informed that Jammu and Kashmir is conducting 1.62 lakh tests per week with 0.2% positivity rate. The UT registered 999 cases and 9 COVID-related deaths in the last week.

The Union Home Secretary advised Jammu and Kashmir to focus on administration of vaccination to eligible population in a decentralized manner through dedicated day-specific and vaccination centre-specific targeted drives. While ensuring second dose of vaccines to eligible population in time, he stressed on speedy administering of first doses to the unvaccinated population.

So far, Jammu and Kashmir has vaccinated approximately 50 lakh people constituting 40% of its eligible population with the first dose. The vaccinated population also includes 100% vaccination in above 45 years age category and 31% vaccination in 18- 45 age category.

Giving a brief of the measures being taken in J&K to contain the spread of COVID, the Chief Secretary, J&K informed that the Government has been vigorously enforcing COVID Appropriate Behaviour (CAB) and conducting high numbers of tests and vaccinations for early detection and containment of COVID virus.

The Chief Secretary also requested the Central Government to provide 60 lakh additional doses of vaccination so as to enable the UT to universally vaccinate its eligible population at the earliest.

Later, the Chief Secretary directed the Health & Medical Education Department to focus on contact tracing of COVID patients and ensure quarantine of suspected cases to prevent spread of infection among the general population. The Department was asked to ensure strict enforcement of CAB and imposition of graded-penalty on habitual defaulters.

Further, the Department was directed to undertake machinery and equipment audit and ensure their functionality along with sufficient availability of technical manpower, besides, organizing district-level mock drills for establishment of micro containment zones and enforcement SOPs thereof.

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir police Chief, Dilbag Singh on Thursday asked the officers to be cautions as the anti-national elements (ANEs) are hell-bent to disturb peaceful environment

Director General of Police (DGP) visited APC Zewan to take stock of the forthcoming Independence Day Parade preparation, and visited different places of district Srinagar to review on ground security and deployment of personnel within the capital city. He also chaired officers meeting at PCR in the afternoon.

In the forenoon, the DGP J&K accompanied by DIG Central Kashmir Range Amit Kumar took stock of preparation for the Independence Day Parade at the Armed Police Complex, Zewan.

He inspected the full rehearsal of the parade in which contingents of BSF, CRPF, ITBP, JKAP, IRP, J&K Ladies Police, District Police Srinagar, Fire & Emergency Services, UTDRF and Forest Protection Force are participating on the tunes of Band contingents of the BSF, CRPF and J&K Police.

DGP while interacting with the parade contingent commanders, nodal officers from JKAP/IRP Battalions and other forces directed that the Independence Day Parade should be appealing. He directed that all the participants of the parade and other support staff should prepare for the event with full energy and enthusiasm.

He directed the officers that during preparations and rehearsals of Parade there should be no compromise on the COVID-19 protocols. He emphasized upon officers that all the necessary measures should be taken to follow the health advisories issued from time to time by the authorities.

CO JKAP 9th Bn Manzoor Ahmad Dalal, CO JKAP 12th Bn. Sanjay Singh Rana, Dy.CO JKAP 12th Bn Fayaz Ahmad and other gazetted officers of Police and other security forces were present during the visit.

The DGP also took a round of the area near the Parade ground and directed the officers to prepare plans for renovation of family quarters and the infrastructure on the campus. He directed the officers to take keen interest in organising fitness and sporting programmes to enhance the fitness levels of officers and personnel.

Later on, DGP J&K accompanied by DIG CKR Amit Kumar and SSP Srinagar Sandeep Choudhary visited different places of the Srinagar city. During the tour, he visited Nowgam, Sanat Nagar, Batamaloo, Bemina, Qamarwari, and Khanayar areas. The tour was aimed at taking stock of ground security measures and deployment of forces in the capital city.

In the afternoon, the DGP J&K chaired meeting of senior officers from Police, CRPF and BSF to review the overall security scenario of the valley. The meeting was attended by Spl. DG CID, J&K R. R. Swain, Spl. DG CRPF J&K Sanjay Arora, IGP Kashmir Zone Vijay Kumar, IG BSF Kashmir Rajesh Mishra, IG CRPF (Ops) Kashmir Charu Sinha, DIG CKR Amit Kumar, SSP Srinagar Sandeep Choudhary and other officers.

In the meeting, the DGP emphasized upon the officers to be alert and cautious as the anti-national elements (ANEs) are hellbent to disturb the peaceful environment. The senior officers briefed the DGP, J&K about the security scenario in their respective jurisdiction.