Lack of coordination leads to missing of several timelines
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, May 11: Taking serious note of dilly-dallying approach, Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam has fixed May 31 as final deadline for providing toilet, drinking water and electricity to all the Government schools across the State. Moreover, stress has been laid on ensuring proper coordination among all the concerned agencies, the absence of which is considered as the major reason behind denial of these basic facilities to the thousands of students.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that ever since the launch of campaign to provide toilet, drinking water and electricity to all the Government schools in the State, several timelines were fixed for the completion of task. However, because of lack of coordination among the concerned Government agencies the exercise has remained incomplete till date.
In the month of January this year, the Government vide Order No.70-GAD constituted district level committees headed by District Development Commissioner concerned for achieving 100% saturation of toilets, drinking water and electricity in the Government schools.
Comprised of Chief Education Officer concerned and Executive Engineers of Public Health Engineering Department, Power Development Department and School Education Department, the committees were asked to make actual assessment of deficient schools on the minimum requirement basis, monitor the works executed by different agencies and to ensure completion of the same by February 28, 2019.
Though exercise was carried out in some districts of the State by the committees headed by the District Development Commissioners yet works could not be completed within the specified time-frame. In the meanwhile, the Government, while admitting that thousands of schools were still lacking toilet, drinking water and electricity, came out with a mechanism to overcome infrastructural gaps and fixed time-line of April 30, 2019. However, concerned authorities failed to meet this time-frame too.
Two days back, Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam had a review meeting with the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir and District Development Commissioners of Kashmir division and noted with serious concern the missing of one after another timeline. It was later decided in the meeting that all the Government schools of the State shall be provided toilet, drinking water and electricity facilities by May 31, 2019.
The Chief Secretary has also issued instructions for ensuring proper coordination among different agencies so that left over works are completed well before the latest deadline, sources said, adding “all the Deputy Commissioners have also been asked to pay special attention towards this aspect especially when they are free from the Parliamentary election exercise”.
Acting on the instructions of the Chief Secretary, Commissioner Secretary to Government, School Education Department Sarita Chauhan has asked all the Zonal Education Officers to visit all the schools in their respective zones and provide information vis-à-vis actual number of schools having toilet facility after physical verification, actual number of schools without toilet facility and physical status of works by May 15 to the Chief Education Officer concerned.
Similarly, Chief Education Officers have been asked to review with all Zonal Education Officers of their respective districts on May 16, May 21, May 27 and May 30 to gather the information on the progress made, sources said, adding Directors of School Education Jammu/Kashmir have clearly been told to review the progress on May 17, May 22 and May 28 with the concerned Chief Education Officers and sort out the problems, if any.
“The Directors shall ensure that the assured minimum facilities are in place by putting all efforts like convening of meetings with the concerned Chief Engineers, Superintending Engineers and Executive Engineers to push the pace of works and to sort out the problems, if any, to ensure providing of these facilities in all the schools by May 31, 2019”, read the communication No.Edu/ Plan-SE/1081/2018-19 (monitoring) dated May 10, 2019, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR.
According to the sources, meeting May 31, 2019 deadline would not be possible in certain areas of the mountainous districts especially in respect of drinking water as even water supply lines are not available up to large distance in such areas. “The administration is trying to take water supply lines to these areas by taking up the works under languishing projects category and that is a time consuming exercise”, sources added.
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