Excelsior Correspondent
UDHAMPUR, Oct 24: Udhampur district will achieve 100% rural electrification by 2017 within a time-line of 15 months.
Disclosing this,Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said here today that Udhampur has achieved the distinction of being one of the first districts to hold a formal meeting of “District Electricity Committee” for carrying forward the Government of India’s Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) programme. Udhampur will also possibly be the first district in J&K State to achieve 100% rural electrification, he added.
Earlier, Dr Jitendra Singh recalled, Udhampur was also the first district in J&K State to have officially launched Digital India programme and introduced e – Governance in administration within three days of its all-India launch by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Union Capital on 1st of July this year.
Dr Jitendra Singh further informed that district Udhampur consists of 253 villages in total comprising 1772 hamlets, out of which 260 hamlets are still either not electrified or partly electrified. This task will therefore be accomplished under DDUGJY for which an amount of Rs 39.95 cr has been allocated by the Central Government and more amount will also be sought to be obtained for the purpose. In addition, the district administration has been provided with 15000 solar lights for providing the facility on immediate basis to the villages and hamlets till the task of electrification by conventional means gets completed, he said.
Referring to Deen Dayal Upadhyay’s concept of “Antyoday”, Dr Jitendra Singh said, this also happens to be the birth centenary year of Upadhyay and the Modi Government has come out with a befitting tribute to ensure that the process of rural electrification reaches the last village in the last corner, thus living up to Upadhyay’s message of providing the benefits of democracy to the last man in the last queue.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, he had promised his electorate that each of the 6 districts falling in his constituency will have some or the other “first of its kind” distinction to claim. In the same vein, while one more “first” has been added to Udhampur district, the Kathua district was already the “first” to have inter-State Ravi bridge at Kedian-Garhiyal costing nearly Rs 180 cr and the State’s “first- ever” bio-tech park at the estimated cost of over Rs 90 cr. Similarly, he said, District Reasi will have at Katra the terminal point of India’s “longest” Express Corridor from Delhi via Amritsar and Sanjhi Chhat at Vaishno Devi has already been installed the “first-ever” latest hi-tech weather forecast system.
The Doda district has become the “first” district in the State to launch a formal Skill Development programme on land survey and mapping introduced with the collaboration of a Hyderabad-based agency, he added.
Earlier, Pawan Gupta, MoS Finance, in his presentation, called for increasing the fund allocation for DDUGJY in Udhampur district from 39.95 cr to 80 cr. He also expressed the urgent need to carry out renovation and replacement of the outdated power supply mechanism / equipment in the district.
MLA Chenani D.N. Bhagat wanted more of transformers to be provided in his constituency while MLA Ram Nagar R.S. Pathania suggested that a mechanism should be put in place for conveying immediate information about unscheduled power breakdown taking place anywhere any time.
District Commissioner Udhampur Dr. Shahid Iqbal Choudhary presented a resume and update of the various Central schemes particularly relating to electrification and power supply.
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