Bukhari reaches out to people at their doorstep

* Enquires about public grievances

Excelsior Correspondent

Minister for R&B, Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari interacting with people during his tour to different parts of Srinagar city on Sunday.
Minister for R&B, Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari interacting with people during his tour to different parts of Srinagar city on Sunday.

SRINAGAR, May 10: As a part of the Government’s public outreach initiative, the Minister for R&B, Floriculture, Gardens and Parks, Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari, accompanied by senior officers of District Administration and Engineering Departments today conducted extensive tour of Amira Kadal constituency to ascertain and address people’s grievances at their doorstep.
Starting from Nowgam Chowk, the Minister alongwith the team of officers covered about 10 kms by foot, visiting interior parts of Nowgam, Naikbagh, Eidgah Colony, Faizan Colony, ERM Colony,  Mehboob Colony, Abu Bakar Colony, Budshah Nagar, Natipora. The people, who met the Minister during his tour, raised the issues of drinking water, dilapidated roads, replacement of electric poles and transmission wire, repairs and construction of lanes and drainage besides establishment of ration depots.
MLA, Anjum Fazli, Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, Chief Engineers of R&B, PHE, PDD, I&FC, Director CA&PD department and officers from UEED, SMC and Social Welfare Department accompanied the Minister.
Responding to the demands of the people, the Minister said that making false promises is not the policy of the functionaries of the present Government and assured them that the administration will do whatever could be possible within its financial resources. He said Government is aware that last year’s floods have caused maximum damage in Amira Kadal constituency, adding that every step would be taken to address the problems of the people. He said the issues being faced by the people on account of basic needs would be prioritized for redressal.
Later, the Minister had a meeting with the officers and discussed in detail the issues raised by the people during the tour. He asked officers to come up with proposals in view of the available financial resources. He asked officers to work in close coordination to address the problems of the people.
A team of officers was also framed who will be visiting various areas of the constituency to ascertain and address the basic needs of the people including drinking water, power supply, renovation of roads, repair of lanes and drains etc. The Minister asked the officers to go to the area twice in a week and get brief of the area-specific problems from the local representatives. He said this practice will also be adopted in other constituencies of Srinagar city to revitalize the public grievances redressel mechanism and rebuild the infrastructure affected by September 2014 floods.
The Minister instructed the officers that proper drainage is important for ensuring durability of the roads and asked engineers to go for construction and repairing of the drains prior to starting black-topping of the roads.