Bemina gets 500-bedded Pediatric hospital
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 24: The Administrative Council (AC) which met here today under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, approved the rollout of Nominee Policy for Aadhar enabled Public Distribution System (AePDS) by Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs Department.
The decision is aimed at ensuring assured regular supply of food grains to all beneficiaries as per the entitlement under National Food Security Act in a smooth and hassle-free manner.
The new policy will enable beneficiaries in old age, bed-ridden or those living with disabilities to nominate a responsible person after due verification to collect the quota of the subsidized ration on their behalf. Moreover, the nominee will be designated only for single/dual member ration cards where the beneficiary is a senior citizens (above 65 years) / minor (below 15 years) / bedridden / differently abled.
The scheme allows a beneficiary to submit a nomination form either to the Tehsil Supply officer (TSO) or dealer or to the Assistant Director (AD) to add the nominated person to the beneficiary’s family as a nominee with zero entitlement. To avail ration, the nominee will have to visit the respective dealer and complete the KYC registration and biometric authentication.
In case of unavailability of a nominee, respective Tehsil Supply Officer will be designated as a nominee to beneficiaries requiring special assistance for delivering the requisite ration. However, the nominees will not be allowed to draw ration on behalf of other beneficiaries through the portability feature under ‘One Nation One Ration Card’ scheme.
Over the past few months, the Department has undertaken a series of reform measures to ensure food security to the residents of Jammu and Kashmir by timely and efficient distribution of food grains at highly subsidized and affordable prices through a network of 6738 outlets.
The Administrative Council also gave administrative approval to the construction of a 500-bedded Pediatric hospital at Bemina, Srinagar.
Once operational, the hospital will strengthen the pediatric care facilities in Kashmir division, ease the burden of patient load on the existing tertiary level hospital and ensure quality maternity, neonatal and pediatric care to the patients.
The project will be upgrading vital Pediatric facilities on modern grounds and will be completed at an estimated cost of Rs. 114.81 crore. The new hospital will be equipped with all modern equipment for managing the high risk pediatric cases to further reduce the infant mortality rate.
It will also serve as the Centre of Excellence in Pediatric in Kashmir division and will assist the Union Territory in mitigating a possible third wave of COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Administrative Council also approved the proposal of Power Development Department to upgrade the transformation capacity of Wagoora-Zainakote transmission line by re-conductoring its 220 KV DC line.
Through the project, the Power Development Department will replace the existing 0.4 ACSR by High Temperature Low Sag Conductor (HTLS) of circuit-II of 220 KV (reconductoring of DC 220 KV Line) at an estimated cost of Rs. 24.29 crore.
The project will enable the Power Development Department to meet the additional load demand, lower the T&D losses and ensure reliable power supply to Srinagar, Baramulla and Ganderbal districts.
Additionally, the upgraded Wagoora-Zainakote line will also provide power back up in case of an outage of 220 KV Amaragarh Zainakote DC transmission line.