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Welfare schemes fail to benefit poor
Row over renaming of village
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Traffic awareness week from Sept 26
Kandi Development Authority on the anvil
Srinagar Diary
Jora stresses on quality tourism infrastructure
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Welfare schemes fail to benefit poor
While as per official records, the Centre-sponsored welfare schemes have been implemented in most parts of the state, such programmes remained only on paper and the deserving people are still not getting benefits. Ironically, many influential and well-off people are taking benefits of such schemes which have been formulated especially for the poor. Benefits of national schemes like the Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) are yet to the reach the deserving lot. “The Indira Vikas Yojna has been implemented in this belt on the basis of a faulty list prepared by the authorities without conducting a proper door-to-door survey,” alleges RS Pathania, a local political leader, who vouches the fact that the poverty alleviation schemes have failed to benefit the poor. Pathania says the failure of the authorities to implement various Centre-sponsored schemes in this belt is due to faulty ground work and improper planning. “Discrepancies in the existing lists of the deserving people and poor planning are the main reasons of the failure of the execution of many schemes in the backward areas,” he says and alleges that, “The beneficiaries of these schemes are being selected on political considerations”. The Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidhutikaran Yojna (RGGVY) was launched in this belt with much fanfare, but still a large number of villages are yet to be electrified, thanks to poor planning and casual approach of the authorities. “The scheme was implemented in the villages located on the roadsides which were already electrified and the deserving hamlets were ignored,” points out Mohan Singh, a resident of Battal, who alleges that due to a nexus between contractors and bureaucrats, the poor people are facing hardships. Echoing similar views Mohan Singh, another resident of Majalta, Dina Nath says schemes like MNREGA have not been not properly implemented in the rural areas. Nath, who is working as a helper in a tea stall located on the Battal-Khoon road, says those working under MNREGA are not getting their wages for months together. “Those at the helm of the affairs are not serious in the implementation of such schemes and they are only interested in completing their paper work just to maintain their record,” he adds. The failure of the authorities to effectively implement welfare schemes can be gauged from the official data as well. As this belt falls under Udhampur district, according to official record, in the current financial year, 1,692 works were taken up out of which only 323 were completed. Besides, 1,369 works were in progress. As many as 2.17 lakh mandays were generated under the schemes in district upto ending August 2011.
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Row over renaming of village
Jammu, September 23 Its residents say they recently came to know that the name of their village Tuti-B, inhabited mainly by Muslims and Dailts, has been rechristened as Mochi Mohalla by the Department of Rural Development. “In a society where people are trying to rise above differences created by caste, community and other social divisions, changing an old but socially acceptable and unbiased name with a new one that has caste connotation is quite unacceptable,” says PR Bhagat, a resident of Tuti and adds, “A modern state is supposed to be progressive. It should not give feudal tittles to the places on the basis of a community living there or their occupation for that matter”. Another resident of the area, Noor Mohammad, says “There was a time when there were tanners, but the present generation belonging to those families has long given up that profession. However, the new name is derogatory and seems to be a mischief of some official with casteist mindset”. “To name a place on the basis of a caste is highly objectionable on many grounds,” observes Suresh Babu, who teaches sociology in the University of Jammu. Prof Babu adds, “It is like stigmatising a community or a village which amounts to humiliation rather than discrimination. This sort of official action goes against the idea of diversity that is one of the important ethos of the Indian Constitution. Therefore, there is a need to know the intent behind such a move”. “The new name of Tuti village is a deliberate attempt to portray a particular community as backward that has remained so for different reasons,” he adds. If the department wanted to change the name of the village, there should have been a consensus of local people through deliberations, he says and adds, “I do not know any village in India that has its name on the basis of a caste or community”. Meanwhile, according to officials, the panchayat constituencies, Tuti A amd Tuti B, were rechristened as Sheikh Mohalla and Mochi Mohalla, respectively, in 2007. Anil Thakur, block development officer, said: “These places were not rechristened during my tenure. The names were changed in 2007 during the delimitation of panchayat constituencies”. However, he said: “Recently, a delegation of villagers came to me and proposed that the new names were not acceptable to them. Accordingly, I forwarded their proposal to my seniors and the original names of the areas would get restored as per the local demand”.
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Traffic awareness week from Sept 26
Srinagar, September 23 In this connection, he said a traffic awareness week would be launched from September 26 to create awareness among common people, especially drivers and vehicle owners, about the traffic rules. On this occasion, the Divisional Commissioner directed all vehicle holders, especially public transporters, for keeping compulsorily first-aid kits in their vehicles so that in case of any mishap, injured passengers could be provided immediate relief. The Divisional Commissioner took a strong note of misusing Red Cross emblem and warned that this kind of ignorance could not be
tolerated any more in the future. He said anybody found indulging in this activity would be booked under the law. Meanwhile, the associations of KMDA and Taxi Owners assured the Divisional Commissioner for full cooperation to make the programme successful. The meeting was attended by SP, Traffic (City) Maqsood-uz-Zaman, Assistant Regional Transport Officer, Srinagar, Secretary Regional Red Cross Committee, Abdul Jabbar Chakat, Deputy Controller, Civil Defence, Head Disaster Management, General Secretary, KMD Association and president of the Taxi Drivers Association.
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Kandi Development Authority on the anvil
Srinagar, September 23 Omar said the holistic development of the Kandi areas in the fields of water conservation, raising of orchards, feasible agricultural activities, water shed development and other similar matters required focused attention. “In order to realise these goal, my government is working on a proposal to hand over this task to an authority or organisation for concentrated attention,” he said. The Chief Minister said the improvement and upgradation of basic amenities and enhancing economic activities in the kandi belts was one of the priority concerns of his government. “We are keen to deliver on this front through new initiatives and befitting policy planning,” he maintained. Omar was speaking to a delegation of the Kandi areas of the Kashmir and Jammu divisions which called on him during the Awami Mulakat here recently and presented a memorandum for the development of the kandi areas. Talking to another deputation from South Kashmir, the Chief Minister said the extension of drinking water facilities in water-scare areas and augmentation of its supply in other areas were receiving appropriate attention of the government. The Chief Minister said the government had targeted to provide better drinking water facilities to a population of over 10.62 lakhs during the current fiscal, adding that the focus was on to ensure drinking water security, both in terms of its adequacy and quality on a sustainable basis. Omar said Rs 382.72 crore had been incurred for the improvement, upgradation and extension of drinking water supply facilities in the state during 2009-10, while last year, the expenditure on this count was Rs 506.52 crore. The Chief Minister said out of 2,295 water supply schemes taken in hand, as many as 1,257 were completed by the end of the last year, while 430 schemes had been targeted for the current financial year. Omar said 510 sustainable schemes, including check dams, tanks, wells, ponds, water storage structures, etc., had been taken up for execution at an estimated cost of over Rs 125.14 crore. Of these, 54 schemes were nearing completion. The Chief Minister said impounding structures at Aalastaing, Wangat, Check Dam at Surinsar and Reasi and other places were under execution. He said under a comprehensive strategy, filtration plants to all water supply schemes were being installed in a phased manner. He said a project on community capacity development on drinking water testing, quality monitoring and surveillance to cover 22 districts of the state had been launched. He said 60 division-level water quality testing laboratories were being set up in the state. Of these, 24 would be
commissioned shortly. The Chief Minister said during the last year, 903 habitations had been covered under portable water supply, besides installing 2,883 hand pumps and providing drinking water facilities to 1,096 rural schools. He said over 200 treatment plants had also been taken in hand at a cost of over Rs 22 crore during the last year. Talking to a deputation of the Fruit Growers Association, the Chief Minister said the welfare of growers and the balanced development of horticulture was receiving due attention. He said while focus was on increasing per hectare productivity and production, the remunerative returns for Kashmir fruit was also being ensured by various initiatives. “Investors, especially educated youth of the state, are being facilitated and encouraged through different incentives to invest in post-harvest handling of large quantity of apples and other fruits,” he said, adding that this sector was full of promises for the educated youth of the state. Talking to another deputation who raised the issue of improvement in power transmission system, the Chief Minister said a well-planned policy was under implementation in the state to upgrade power distribution transmission system. He said 14 projects for the construction of receiving stations, 66-kV, 33-kV and 11-kV transmission lines, LT lines and installation of distribution transformers were under various stages of execution in the state which were likely to improve distribution system. During the Mulakat, scores of individuals and dozens of deputations from all across the state met the Chief Minister and presented him the memoranda of their individual and collective demands. The Chief Minister gave patient hearing and disposed of many cases of urgent nature on the spot, while he referred others to the authorities concerned for urgent action. The general demands put forth before the Chief Minister were relating to the development of kandi and hilly belts, development of horticulture, upgradation of power transmission system, installation of new transformers, augmentation of drinking water supply, construction of lanes, drains and roads, improvement in healthcare services and other similar issues.
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Srinagar Diary During the past about 10 years, the printed telephone directory for the Valley was brought out only twice. A lot of numbers have been added since the last directory printed three years ago. It is high time that the directory is updated as the facility of enquiry for telephone directory is also of least help to the people. The section, although having a prompt response system, is not updated with the latest telephone numbers of individuals and the government offices. It needs to be updated so that it could serve the purpose of helping the people who feel handicapped for the want of accurate and updated landline numbers. Change in school timings With the soft breeze of autumn starting to blow, the government has ordered a change in the school timings in the summer capital. All government and private schools have been directed to start one hour late in view of the approaching winter All schools will now open at 9 am from this week. The timings for schools in villages outside Srinagar continue to be between 10 am and 4 pm. The new school timings, rescheduled by one hour late in the mornings, would be of great convenience to the students (see photo) and teachers within the municipal limits of the city. However, many private schools continue to go by the old timings and opening the schools at 8 am, much to the inconvenience of the students and teachers. These schools are yet to reschedule their timings. The old timings were set at 8 am in view of the VIP vehicular movement to and fro the Civil Secretariat so as to regulate traffic on the roads. (Contributed by
Ehsan Fazili)
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Jora stresses on quality tourism infrastructure
Srinagar, September 23 Chairing a meeting of the Kishtwar Development Authority (KDA), Jora said the main objective of the government was to provide quality infrastructure facilities to the visiting tourists with focused attention for developing new tourism potential spots. Underscoring the need for time-bound completion of the ongoing projects, the Minister stressed upon the concerned chief executive officers (CEOs) not to create liabilities while taking up new projects. “The existing tourism projects should be completed in all respects and outsourced after completing legal formalities. The utilisation certificate of each project should be submitted before forwarding new detailed project reports for the creation of tourist-related infrastructure,” Jora directed to the CEOs. Jora said varied tourism potential of Kishtwar district would be explored fully in a systematic manner for which necessary initiatives had been taken already. Reviewing the physical and financial achievements registered by the KDA for the promotion of tourism activities in the area, the Minister said the KDA was constituted in July 2009, and had received financial support of Rs 10.84 crore under the state and Centre plans for creating tourism-related infrastructure. He said more projects would be forwarded to the Centre for funding so that tourism infrastructure facilities would be upgraded in the area. He directed concerned that before the formulation of project reports for funding, state land should be identified for the purpose as compensation for land acquisition was not a component for the approval of Centre funding projects. The Chief Executive Officer presented a power point presentation depicting physical and financial achievements registered by the authority till date. The meeting was told that tourist influx was increasing. This year, so far 3.30 lakh pilgrims and leisure tourists visited the area. At another meeting for the Rajouri Development Authority (RDA) here recently, the Minister ordered for constituting a committee headed by the Director, Tourism, Jammu, to look into and enquire the quality of work being executed by the RDA at TRC Shadra Sharief. The decision to this effect was taken in the meeting of the RDA held here recently, as the authority members were not satisfied with the quality of work. Jora ordered the committee to conduct enquiry and furnish the report within a month. The Minister, who chaired the RDA meeting convened to review physical and financial achievements registered for the promotion of tourism activities in Rajouri district, besides to give nod to the current fiscal action plan, said nobody would be allowed to misuse public funds. “Government money is only meant for public infrastructure utilisation. Any official or officer found involved in corrupt practice will be dealt sternly,” Jora said. Jora said the government endeavours to explore fully varied tourism potential of Rajouri. “Initiatives have been already taken to create tourist infrastructure and develop scenic spots in the area,” he said and added to promote eco and pilgrim tourism, two Central-funded projects of Rs 5.28 crore were underway in the area. He said Rajouri was being developed as a pilgrim destination, while Nangathub was being developed as a eco-tourism destination. The Minister said under the centrally sponsored schemes, funds to the tune of Rs 8.57 crore were made available to the RDA since its inception, out of which an expenditure of Rs 8.44 crore had been expended for the creation of tourist infrastructure in the area, adding that this amount was more than the state allocation allotted to the area for the purpose.
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Majalata (Ramnagar), September 23
Since the introduction of the mobile phone service in the state, the necessity to update landline telephone numbers seems to be of less priority. However, there are many people who continue to rely on the landline telephone service, which remains the mainstay of the communication network, particularly in the government offices.