Parliamentary panel takes stock of welfare steps in J&K

On the second day of its four-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs today held a meeting with top civil administration to discuss the developmental scenario and people’s welfare measures in the Union Territory.

At the outset, Chief Secretary of J&K Dr Arun Kumar Mehta gave a detailed presentation highlighting the achievements and the functioning of all the departments of the UT. The Committee comprising of 28 Members of Parliament from Lok Sabha as well as Rajya Sabha is headed by senior Congress leader and Member of the Parliament, Anand Sharma. Detailing about the steps taken in the past few years for democratic decentralization, the meeting was informed about the conduct of elections for District Development Councils and Block Development Councils thus strengthening the grassroots level democracy in the UT.

The meeting was told that the region has now three-tier democratic set up in place and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Urban Local Bodies have been further empowered. Besides, public outreach programmes—Back to Village, Jan Abhiyan, My Town My Pride etc—were conducted across J&K. With respect to the power scenario in J&K, the panel was informed that power generation projects have been fast-tracked and 2500 MW would be added by the year 2025. The committee was informed about road connectivity, water supply and was briefed about the status of schemes like Jal Jeevan Mission and achievement of 100 per cent piped water supply to all rural schools and Anganwadi Centres in 18 districts of the UT.

While terming tourism and industries as priority sectors, the meeting also deliberated upon the issues of Industrial Development, Tourism sector, employment of youth and women empowerment, and sports activities. The meeting also discussed resettlement of Kashmiri migrants in Kashmir. Commenting on Covid-19 management in the UT, the panel appreciated Covid-19 mitigation and relief during the pandemic and recognized the UT administration’s efforts and also implementation of e-office and other administrative reforms undertaken by the UT administration. Earlier, the committee held an interactive session with the beneficiaries of Self Help Groups, representatives of Farmer Producer Organizations, high-density apple growers, saffron producers etc.