*Takes appraisal of issues of J&K Universities
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 2: Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo today held a meeting to discuss the progress of projects taken up under World Bank funded Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP) here in J&K.
Those who attended include Commissioner Secretary Industries & Commerce Department; Secretary R&B; Secretary Health; Secretary Planning; Commissioner SMC; Principal GMC Srinagar; Chief Engineers, R&B/I&FC and other concerned officers and officials of these Departments.
Dulloo impressed upon the concerned to make best of this extension window to complete the stalled projects especially 120-bed Lal Ded Hospital Block, Emergency Operation Centre (EOC), vital bridges and others projects which are yet to be completed.
He observed that this extension period is quite vital and should be utilized judiciously to complete all these projects well on time. He maintained that pre-emptive measures should be taken by the concerned departments to take-up works forthwith for their early completion without any fail.
He emphasised upon the executing agency to handover the new Bone & Joint Hospital at Srinagar to the concerned hospital administration at an earliest so that they begin functioning there.
The Chief Secretary also took note of the physical and financial progress of the works and enquired about the possible dates of completion for each of them. He stressed on swift delivery of equipments to be procured for Fire & Emergency Department as well as 50 Advanced Life Support bearing ambulances.
He called for finalising the flood mitigation reports framed after carrying out studies of both Jhelum and Tawi River basins. He maintained that these reports had a significance towards river management and taking of flood mitigation measures.
He also took appraisal of the status of completion of de-watering stations and their integration with SCADA for central monitoring.
He directed for initiating the hiring of consultancy services for the SPREAD program of the Tourism Department. He made out that this service should be in place with the Department with the next 2 months.
Dulloo further advised for complying with different audit observation. He asked for clearing these in consultation with the AG’s office here.
In his presentation the Secretary, PD&MD gave detailed overview of the projects that were part of JTFRP. He gave out that out of 213 projects, 194 sub-projects had been completed with an expenditure of Rs 1479 cr till now.
It was further added that World Bank had given an in-principle nod for extending this project beyond the already fixed deadline of 31st December this year. It was revealed that currently 14 projects are going on and 5 more including 4 bridges and new block for LD Hospital are going to be allotted to be completed in the extended period.
The timeline for completing these projects was provided with most of the ongoing ones to be completed by March, 2025.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary held a meeting with all the Vice Chancellors and heads of line departments to expedite the resolution of issues faced by different Universities functioning here.
Besides the VCs the meeting was attended by ACS, Jal Shakti Department; Principal Secretary, Finance; Principal Secretary, APD; Commissioner Secretary, Higher Education; Secretary, PWD; Secretary, Health; MD, JPDCL; MD, KPDCL; DG Codes and other concerned officers.
Dulloo seized this occasion to impress upon the Vice-Chancellors of these varsities to follow the pattern of placements their students are able to fetch once they complete their courses. He suggested to create online platforms for this purpose as this would guide us in developing relevant skilling courses based on the feedback of both industry and alumni.
He advised them to develop crash courses for capacity building of the government servants working in different departments. He also asked for taking documentation initiatives pertaining to the ideas of innovations, patents or start-ups emanating from these higher educational institutions of the UT.
While taking assessment of the issues faced by these institutions the Chief Secretary impressed upon the line departments to make concerted efforts in coordination with the Universities to iron out issues hindering their process of development.
The issues that were raised by the Universities includes those related to land transfer, creation of posts, seeking additional Capex grants, augmentation of existing infrastructure, construction of hostel blocks along with several other individual necessities of these institutions.
The Universities which participated in this session includes University of Kashmir, University of Jammu, Cluster University Srinagar, Cluster University Jammu, Central University of Kashmir, Central University of Jammu, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Islamic University of Science & Technology, Baba Ghulam Shah Badshah University, and Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences (SKUAST) Kashmir and Jammu.
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