*Reviews progress on 29 HADP projects
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Jan 3: Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo, today chaired a meeting to take first hand appraisal of the progress made in installation of solar rooftops under PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana in Jammu and Kashmir.
Present in the meeting were Principal Secretary, PDD, Principal Secretary, Finance, Commissioner Secretary, Science & Technology, MD JPDCL/KPDCL, CEO, JAKEDA, Chief Engineers and other concerned officers in person and through virtual mode.
Dulloo emphasised upon the concerned departments to carry out rigorous IEC campaigns to generate awareness among the public about this scheme. He called for creating awareness material in local languages for easy comprehension besides sending bulk SMSs to the targeted consumers.
He directed for reaching out to each panchayat with full fledged programs distributing IEC materials in local languages besides demonstrating educational videos and success stories there. He enjoined upon the Discoms to designate nodal officers among their engineers to accomplish these tasks with relevant feedback to their higher-ups.
The Chief Secretary observed that such schemes are reform-oriented with direct benefits accruing to public. He asked for making concerted efforts to increase the number of applicants and timely installations in favour of each of them. He also fixed a target for the Discoms to achieve installation of around 30,000 solar rooftops across the districts of the UT. He advised for intensifying the outreach campaign till the desired outcomes are achieved.
Principal Secretary PDD, H Rajesh Prasad, informed the meeting that the financial institutions/banks are extending loans at a rate of 7 percent in order to make the installations easier for the consumers. Besides, the central financial assistance is being directly disbursed among the applicants in their bank accounts only after 15 days of solar rooftop installation by the vendors.
The Chief Secretary, later, reviewed solarisation of Government buildings through J&K Energy Development Agency (JAKEDA). He asked the department to bring further improvement in implementation of this scheme so that the necessary wattage is achieved before its sunset date.
Commissioner Secretary, Science & Technology, Saurabh Bhagat, while informing the meeting about the overall progress of this scheme revealed that 4108 buildings had been covered thereby installing a capacity of 35.2 MW. In addition, the vendors had installed capacity of 13.6 MW till date.
Regarding the overall quantum of work, it was informed that under Capex a total of 70 MW capacity of grid connected solar rooftops would be installed on Government buildings with additional 238 MW under RESCO mode by NHPC and JAKEDA cumulatively.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary chaired a meeting of Agriculture Production Department to review implementation of different sub projects taken up under flagship Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP) in J&K.
The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary, APD, Principal Secretary, Finance, VC SKUAST J/K, MD, JK Bank, MD, HADP, Deputy Commissioners, HoDs in APD besides other concerned officers while out station officers participated online.
The Chief Secretary impressed upon the concerned to focus on establishment of units under different sub-projects of this programme. He maintained that the programme is target oriented with milestones to achieve at different intervals. He maintained that the productivity of this programme would be gauged by the activity-wise outcomes registered in different districts having direct bearing on its potential to generate employment in the UT.
Dulloo enquired from the DCs about the progress achieved under this ambitious programme in their respective districts. He asked them to give priority to the areas depicting poor performance. He also reviewed project wise applications received and approved by districts besides units established in each along with position of funds received and utilized.
Earlier in the meeting, Principal Secretary, APD, Shailendra Kumar, gave an introduction about the overall progress of this programme. He highlighted the steps being taken up by the department to achieve the annual targets set under this 5 year programme.
The sub-projects discussed in the meeting included Farm mechanisation and automation, development of fodder resources, Development of Seed & Seed Multiplication chain, promotion of Niche Crops, promotion of vegetable/exotic vegetables under open and protected cultivation, strengthening of agriculture marketing, Medicinal and Aromatic plants, beekeeping, promotion of Sericulture, promotion of Millets and nutri-cereals, self-sufficiency in mutton production and promotion of year round mushroom cultivation among others. The plan included a total of twenty-nine projects and the interventions made under HADP are going to create employment opportunities for over 2.8 lakh youth with establishment of around 19,000 enterprises.
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