Excelsior Correspondent
Jammu, Dec 4: The Empowered Committee headed by the Chief Secretary, Mohammad Iqbal Khandey, constituted for the implementation & monitoring of the Environment Management Plan of 850 MW Ratle HEP, held its meeting today to discuss the Environment Management Plan of Rs 262.35 crore, already approved by the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests and the State Government.
The Environment Management Plan aims at building the project in complete harmony with the environment. The key ingredients of the plan are Biodiversity Management, Catchment Area Treatment, Fisheries Development, health delivery system, muck disposal, reservoir rim treatment, rehabilitation and resettlement, local area development and skill development etc.
During the Plan deliberations, Chief Secretary called for finalizing the scope of each activity in consultation with the line departments and stake holders so that benefits envisaged in the plan fructify on ground effectively and in a transparent manner. Besides, he also stressed on defining clear benchmarks and using GIS based database for gainful utilization of the funds under the Plan, which will be regularly monitored by the Empowered Committee.
Chief Secretary, while stressing on fulfilling the corporate social responsibility under the project, emphasized on providing necessary training and skill up gradation in various disciplines to the youth of the area so that they not only become employable in the Ratle Project but other projects in the area as well. As such, it was decided that initially, to begin with one member each from the 273 project affected families of Ratle HEP should be given training in various disciplines to facilitate their employability in the Project.
Moreover, it was also decided to built an airstrip in the area, a modern hospital and a sports stadium as part of the corporate social responsibility. In the health sector, apart from building a modern hospital in the project area, it was decided to have 02 critical care ambulances besides augmenting the equipment in the existing hospitals. Furthermore, it was decided to improve the physical infrastructure in the ITIs of the area besides their capacity building for providing training to the youth in the requisite disciplines of the hydro power projects.
Principal Secretary Finance Department, B. B.Vyas, Principal Secretary PDD, A. K. Mehta , Secretary Law, Mohammad Ashraf Mir, Secretary Revenue Department Vinod Koul, Secretary Forest Department, Mohammad Afzal Bhat, Managing Director JKSPDC, Mehraj Ahmad Kakroo, Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar, Baseer Ahmad Khan and other officers attended the meeting.
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