Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Mar 13: Minister for Public Works, Floriculture and Gardens & Parks Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari met Chaudhary Birender Singh, Union Minister of Rural Development (MoRD) in New Delhi today.
Mr Bukhari apprised the Union Minister that the work on rural connectivity under Prime Minister Grameen Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) is going on in Jammu and Kashmir as per the census 2001 and about 1150 habitations were left out which are to be provided connectivity under the PMGSY.
The Minister of State for Public Works Sunil Kumar Sharma besides Members of the Parliament, Fayaz Ahmad Mir and Nazir Ahmad Laway were also present in the meeting.
The Union Minister agreed to update the core network to include these 1150 left out habitations exclusively for Jammu and Kashmir and regarding revision of the core network as per census 2011 it was informed that the matter is under active consideration and a policy decision will be taken by the Central Government .
The Public Works Minister briefed the MoRD that there are 194 Stage II projects sanctioned under Phase VIII and IX. He said that the DPRs were prepared and submitted seeking sanctioned schedule of rates of 2008. Mr Bukhari said that the MoRD needs to sanction these projects as per the revised costs to obviate the difficulty in execution of these schemes. The Union Ministry said that it will examine the issue of differential costs for appropriate action.
For the first time in relaxation of norms, the Union Minister allowed the Jammu and Kashmir Government to utilize the overall savings under PMGSY on inter phase basis which was a long pending demand of the State Government before the Union Ministry.
This dispensation has been provided in relaxation of norms containing in the guidelines of the programme and this will certainly help in completion of the pending projects where there was a cost overrun and were awaiting completion. De-sanctioning of certain schemes for which the proposals were already submitted to the MoRD also came up for comprehensive and detailed discussion during the course of the meeting.
The Public Works Minister had a detailed deliberation over the projects proposed for sanction under Phase X of PMGSY. The Union Minister agreed to sanction the projects for Phase X of PMGSY upto the extent of Rs 1500 crore.
He informed the Union Minister that the State Government has a liability of Rs 135 crore to settle down the claims during current financial year. The Union Minister agreed to accommodate this demand to maximum possible extent out of overall savings of the programme.
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