Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 27: Chief Secretary, B B Vyas today reviewed the progress of 4-lane Jammu-Srinagar National Highway and Ring Road project around Srinagar and Jammu cities.
Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Administrative Secretaries of the Departments of Power Development, Revenue, PW(R&B), Forests, Environment & Ecology, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Director NHAI, Deputy Commissioner, Ramban and other senior officers of the State Government and NHAI were present in the meeting. Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Deputy Commissioners of Jammu, Samba, Kathua, Udhampur, Srinagar, Anantnag and Pulwama participated in the meeting via video conferencing.
Chief Secretary noted with satisfaction the progress achieved in the expeditious resolution of all the bottlenecks in land acquisition of 4-lane National Highway Project. He asked DC Ramban and NHAI to ensure that small issue(s) pending in regard to land acquisition, removal of structures or utility shifting be addressed immediately.
About Ring Road project, it was informed that 85% of the land in Jammu for the project has already been handed over to the NHAI and the remaining will be handed over shortly, while as in Srinagar, the process of handing over of State land to the NHAI has already been completed.
Chief Secretary asked the NHAI to ensure that the pending compensation amount on account of land acquisition is released to the DCs immediately for timely disbursement to the land owners.
Later, the Chief Secretary reviewed the implementation of the guidelines on School Safety Policy prepared by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
Commandant General (DGP), Home Guards/Civil Defence & SDRF, Principal Secretary, Higher Education, Principal Secretary Health & Medical Education, Commissioner/ Secretary, PW(R&B), Director Disaster Management, Secretary General, J&K State Red Cross Society and other senior officers attended the meeting.
Chief Secretary asked Director Disaster Management to devise a suitable plan of action regarding measures on school safety and disaster preparedness in coordination with the Education Department, SDRF, Fire & Emergency Services and the Red Cross.
Stressing on the need to leverage technology in generating awareness and training of the stakeholders, Chief Secretary advised use of the Edusat system available in various colleges across the State for the purpose.
Chief Secretary stressed on ensuring compliance of the school safety guidelines and regular monitoring of implementation on monthly basis. He also emphasized on ensuring that upcoming new school buildings are constructed as per the earthquake resistant building construction guidelines of NDMA besides retrofitting the old ones, wherever, needed.
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