Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Oct 15: Nazir Ahmad Laway, Member of Parliament, called on Governor Satya Pal Malik at Raj Bhavan today.
Laway informed the Governor about his assessment and suggestions in regard to dealing with several important issues relating to the obtaining situation in the State. The Governor assured Laway that his administration will take all essential steps in ensuring the speedy development of the State.
Zafar Iqbal Manhas, MLC also called on Governor and apprised him of the pressing problems being faced by the local population.
He informed the Governor about the overall Socio-political situation prevailing in the Shopian district. Besides, he also informed the Governor about the affairs of Jammu & Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages of which he is the Vice-President.
The Governor urged Manhas to assiduously work for the welfare of the people, besides, ensuring that the Academy fulfills its mandate in the right spirit.
Prof. Sanjeev Jain, Vice Chancellor, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University briefed the Governor about the to-date status of important academic, administrative and infrastructural development issues of the University and the initiatives presently underway to speed up the growth in the University.
The Governor stressed that University must make all efforts to enrich and enlarge facilities for teaching, research, library, indoor and outdoor sports and extra- curricular activities for the students. He specifically directed the Vice Chancellor to formulate a comprehensive scheme aimed to benefit meritorious, disadvantaged and indigent students. Besides, he also stressed the importance of continuous efforts to attract best people to fill faculty positions and to ensure the quality of education in the institution.
Meanwhile, Secretary Tourism Rigzin Sampheal met Governor and informed him about the various initiatives being taken by the Department for enhancing tourism prospects of the State.
Pointing to the vital importance of ensuring the growth of tourism sector, Governor advised Sampheal to see that all tourism development projects are finalized and based on a Master Plan for the development of tourism in each of the three regions of the State. Governor also advised Secretary Tourism to launch well planned initiatives to ensure that major tourist visitation areas are thoroughly cleaned while keeping intact the local aesthetics.
Secretary Information Technology (IT), Saugat Biswas briefed Governor about the pace of work on digitization of records of all departments. Governor also took note of the on-ground progress made in development of e-infrastructure to facilitate quick delivery of services to the people.
The Governor urged on the need to promote; e-Governance for empowering citizens, the inclusive and sustainable growth of the IT for enhancing efficiency, adopting a multipronged strategy that includes development of human resources, promoting R&D and innovation.
Governor stressed that digitization of all relevant records should be completed within set timeframe, so that all essential services could be made easily available to the people of the State.
Vice Chancellor University of Kashmir (KU) Professor Talat Ahmad apprised the Governor about the overall academic, administrative, research and infrastructural status of the University, besides, having in-depth discussions on enabling and improving the quality of higher education being made available to the students at the institution.
The Governor urged the VC to ensure that the University addresses the concerns of the students in the right earnest. He specifically stressed upon the need to strictly adhere to the academic calendar, clear backlogs, besides, ensuring timely conduct of examination and declaration of results.
He further directed the VC to ensure that regular coaching and counselling is made available to the students.
Meanwhile, several delegations accompanying Dr Heena Shafi Bhat, Chairperson, Khadi and Village Industries Commission (North Zone), met with Governor.
The delegations including, Jammu and Kashmir Private Un-aided Colleges Association, Jammu and Kashmir Joint Coordination Committee of Private Schools, Jammu and Kashmir College Association, submitted memoranda pertaining to their demands and issues. DrFarooq Jan Medical Superintendent SKIMS also met with the Governor to brief him about the overall functioning of the Institute.
Governor gave patient hearing to the demands and grievances put forth by the delegations. He assured due consideration of the demands and appropriate necessary action for early redressal. He also urged the delegations associated with the education sector to work diligently to ensure that the students get best theoretical and practical knowledge so that they have better employment prospects and can compete with their counterparts nationwide. He urged them to ensure that educational pursuits of the students remain uninterrupted by any outside influence whatsoever.
Among the demands, representatives of Jammu and Kashmir Private Unaided Colleges Association raised their grievances regarding disparity in fee, training of teachers, distance mode B.Ed programmes, affiliation of private colleges, delay in declaration of results and incompletion of their courses.
While, representatives of Jammu and Kashmir Joint Coordination Committee of Private Schools submitted their grievances regarding, fee fixation in respect of Private schools and registration of the private schools.
Jammu and Kashmir College Association members requested for removal of disparity in age of retirement of college teachers viz-a-viz teachers in Jammu University and Kashmir University, scarcity of senior college teachers, reserving administrative posts for teachers in academic administrative bodies, besides, reiterating the demand for timely completion of educational courses and declaration of results.
Dr Farooq Jan, Medical Superintendent SKIMS, during his meeting with the Governor briefed him about the vacancies in nursing positions, requirements for Infrastructure up-gradation, budget requirements, besides informing him about diagnostic and therapeutic facilities available in the institute.
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