Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Baseer Ahmad Khan, on Saturday conducted an extensive tour of Banihal Sub-Division of district Ramban to take stock of various ongoing development projects, winter preparedness made by JPDCL, Covid mitigation efforts and disaster management.Advisor also interacted with several deputations led by the DDC Chairperson, Dr, Shamshad Shan, President MC, Beopar Mandal, PRIs who apprised him of their demands and grievances seeking an early redressal of the same.Baseer Khan was accompanied by Deputy Commissioner, Mussarat Islam, BDC Chairperson, Rashida Begum, DDC members, Chief Engineer, JPDCL, AK Sachdeva, Director Rural Development Jammu, Kishore Singh Chib, Director Tourism, BDC Chairpersons, ADC Harbans lal, ACD Zameer Rishu and other senior officers of the district. The Advisor inspected 10 MVA Receiving Station at Banihal with an additional capacity of 6.3 MVA. He also inspected various ongoing Rural development works. He inaugurated Footbridge at Thachi -Wagan besides reviewing infrastructure being developed in the district to provide better facilities to the people. Speaking on the occasion, the Advisor said that the Government is committed to provide adequate power supply to the people of UT by capacity enhancement in transmission, distribution and power generation. The aim is to reduce the power curtailment time especially in ensuing winters across the UT, he added.The Advisor directed the Chief Engineer JPDCL to conduct survey in the district for the replacement of wooden and damaged electric poles, wires, conductors and other material required for smooth supply of electricity and in the process involve the PRI's also. He added that the funds have already been released in this behalf to create a robust electricity network in the UT. He also directed the Chief Engineer to replace all wires wherever required to improve power supply in the district besides electrifying the uncovered areas.
Responding to the demands of people, the Advisor directed the Director Tourism and Deputy Commissioner to explore the new tourist destinations and trekking routes in the district. He also directed Director Tourism to renovate the way-side amenities and other facilities to boost tourism activities in the area.While talking to the members of three tiers system of Panchyati Raj, the Advisor asked them to work in coordination to ensure effective execution of development projects and implementation of other beneficiary oriented schemes. He directed the Director RDD to identify development works to generate more man days to provide more job opportunities to locals besides ensuring training programmes for DDC and BDC members for their capacity building. He also directed the District Administration to identify state land at panchyat levels to be made available to RDD so that play fields in all the panchyats are developed. This would channelize the energy of youth in the development of the nation, he added. Responding to the demand of Beopar Mandal to develop Bus Stand, the Advisor directed the District Administration to identify suitable land and prepare a plan for the construction of Bus Stand and submit the proposal to the concerned department. Regarding the issues of sanitation highlighted by the delegation, the Advisor directed the Urban Local Bodies and the Deputy Commisioner to have the sanitation concerns resolved and construct a community toilet complex in the Banihal town.
The Advisor also asked the PRIs to cooperate with Administration in implementing all preventive measures to prevent spread of 3rd wave of Covid infection. He said the threat of third wave of COVID is still there and proper measures need to be taken to prevent spread of virus. The Advisor highlighted the requirement of following proper COVID appropriate behaviour and the protocol set in this behalf especially in view of opening up of schools and other activities.Earlier, PRIs expressed their satisfaction about the qualitative change in the national highway. They highlighted the improvement in maintenence of highway by means macdamisation and widening at critical places. The PRI further placed their demands before the Advisor which included opening up of Bus stand, Sanitation of the area, development of playfields, opening of AWAS PLUS portal for registration, clearance of pending payments in RDD for 2017-18 and 2018-19, Tourism Development Authority for Ramban district, funds for completion of TRCs, opening of more bank branches, augmentation of power receiving stations, up gradation of schools, snow cutter for district, shortage of staff in health and education institutions, additional funds for towns, establishment of new towns including Rajgarh, Ukhral, Gool, Sangaldan and Khari, issuance of BPL ration cards.The Advisor gave directions to the officers to redress most of the grievances on the spot and assured the delegations that the other genuine issues shall be taken up with concerned authorities for early redressal.