Lays e-foundation of smart city projects
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 28: Lieutenant Governor, Girish Chandra Murmu today called for expediting the execution of developmental projects and speedy implementation of welfare programmes so that their benefits percolate seamlessly across the board.
The Lt Governor was chairing a high-level meeting of Administrative Secretaries here at Civil Secretariat.
BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Atal Dulloo, Financial Commissioner, Health and Medical Education; besides Administrative Secretaries of various departments and senior officers attended the meeting.
The Lt Governor directed concerned authorities to augment the physical infrastructure and medical capacity in border areas in the backdrop of the feedback received during the recent public outreach program. He called for the time-bound ramping up of essential equipments and availability of medical professionals in these areas.
Dulloo apprised the Lt Governor about the latest status of COVID-19 containment and management progress across the UT. The Lt Governor called for ensuring the availability of requisite resources and evolving dynamic strategies to counter the evolving situation due to Covid-19.
The Lt Governor issued explicit directions for capping the rates of COVID-19 testing and related medicines immediately. Further, the progress of the under-construction new Medical Colleges was also reviewed and directions were issued to ensure time-bound completion of these projects.
While reviewing the progress of the Rural Development Department, the Lt Governor called for immediately identifying land for construction of BDC offices complexes across the UT and transferring the same within a time period of one month. He also directed for making a standardized type-design for the proposed complexes.
In order to mitigate the hardships of the general public living in areas prone to snowstorms and avalanches in winter, Murmu directed the Power Development Department to procure vehicle bound heavy-duty gensets as a pre-emptive measure and place them accordingly at strategic locations across the UT for immediate deployment.
Wile reviewing the process of digitization of land records, the Lt Governor expressed his displeasure about the pace of work and directed the concerned to speed up the digitization process by identifying possible lacunas and resolving the same immediately.
He observed that the Government is committed to the holistic development of the UT and called for coordinated efforts at all levels of the administrative setup in this direction.
He asked the Administrative Secretaries to closely monitor and ensure prompt redressal of all difficulties and grievances related to the needs of people and take all the requisite measures for improving public delivery mechanism for ensuring better results on the ground.
Meanwhile, Murmu today e-inaugurated Jammu Smart City Skill Development Project and laid e-foundation of four others under Jammu Smart City Mission in the presence of Sh. Jugal Kishore Sharma, MP; BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary and Dheeraj Gupta, Principal Secretary Housing and Urban Development Department.
The e- inaugurated Jammu Smart City Skill Development Project is a public-private partnership initiative in association with ICICI Academy for Skills and it envisaged skill development of 250 youth per year for guaranteed employment, to begin with. It will be scaled up to skill 1000 youth per year. The building of a non-functional Government Polytechnic has been renovated to house the said Skill Development Academy, which has been equipped with in accordance with world-class facilities. It is the first IGBC certified green building in the UT having its own sewage treatment plant and rainwater harvesting facility. Trainees will be provided with free meals, uniforms, and training material.
Mayor, Jammu Municipal Corporation, Chander Mohan Gupta; Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Sanjeev Verma; Deputy Mayor, JMC, Purnima Sharma; Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Sushma Chauhan among others were also present at the e-inauguration of the services.
The Lt Governor laid the e-foundation of four other projects under Jammu Smart City Mission including the Smart Vertical Garden from below the flyover from Dogra Chowk to KC Chowk, at a project cost of Rs 4.5cr; Junction Improvement in 10 significant rotaries/crossings in Jammu City, at a project cost of Rs 16.25 cr; establishment of 8 Wi-Fi Hotspots within JMC Limits, and Installation of Way Finding Signages conforming to IRC standards at 680 locations.
The meeting also reviewed the progress of the beautification of Jammu city. The Divisional Commissioner Jammu, briefed the Lt Governor about the various initiatives taken by Government departments and Jammu Municipal Corporation. He informed about the variety of works were undertaken and completed including sanitation drives and face lifting of Yatri Niwas and canal road including the flyover at Bikram Chowk. A total of 1200 plants are being planted in different wards under mega plantation drive to be completed on August 13, 2020.
The Lt Governor was also apprised about the campaign to remove unauthorized hoardings at Satwari Chowk, Greater Kailash, and other adjoining areas. He was informed that to date 4500 illegal hoardings have been removed by the JMC and the process is still going on in various parts of the city. New way-finding signage would be installed across the city in a time-bound manner for convenience of commuters, citizens, and tourists under the Smart City Mission.
The Lt Governor further called for the removal of encroachments from the city markets, public places, and roads on mission mode, with concerted efforts from the district administration, JMC, and police, adding that retrieved lands should be safeguarded and utilized for beautification and public purpose. He also sought details about the maintenance of parks and gardens in the city and directed for fencing, besides their beautification.
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