35 heritage sites approved for restoration
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Apr 8: Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta, today chaired a meeting to review progress on implementation of Bharat Net scheme in Jammu and Kashmir.
The meeting was attended by Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, GM BSNL Srinagar, GM BBM, Srinagar while as Principal Secretary to Lieutenant Governor, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Secretary IT, GM BSNL Jammu, GM BBM Jammu and others participated online.
While chairing the meeting, CS directed the officers to expedite the process for implementation of Bharat Net scheme in the UT so that all the Gram Panchayats are provided broadband connectivity within the shortest possible time frame.
Under the ambitious Bharat Net Programme, Government of India has envisaged to provide broadband connectivity to all gram panchayats throughout the country.
While reviewing implementation of Bharat broadband scheme in rural parts of Jammu and Kashmir, Chief Secretary was informed that Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) Connectivity has been provided to all 427 GPs planned under Phase -I in 13 blocks of JKUT. Besides, 673 GPs have been connected through V sat in remote areas of all the districts under Phase I.
Dr Mehta said that all the 427 panchayats, which have been connected through OFC, can have multiple connections and will extend Internet facility to a school, nearest hospital and a CSC centre (which can work from gram panchayat).
Emphasizing the importance of digital inclusion at the grass roots level, CS impressed upon the concerned to ensure that net enabled gram panchayats function properly so that they could be used as hubs to connect youth clubs, anganwadi centres and other important public sector installations for awareness campaigns on government schemes.
He said that all the gram panchayats should be maintained well in all respects and the VLW should take adequate steps for its proper maintenance. He directed the concerned officers to iron out all the difficulties on this account maintaining that all panchayats should have a power connection. He cautioned the officers of any laxity in proper functioning of gram panchayats.
He asked the concerned to verify the functionality and efficiency of internet facilities already established in 1092 gram panchayats by holding interactions with the officers either through video conferences or google meet on regular basis.
Meanwhile, Executive Committee’s meeting for the revival/restoration/conservation of the architectural heritage of J&K UT was held under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta.
The meeting was attended by Sarmad Hafeez, Secretary Tourism; Rahul Pandey, Director at Archives, Archeology, and Museums; Chief Town Planner Kashmir and various other officials/officers attended the meeting through VC.
At the outset, Rahul Pandey Director at Archives, Archeology, and Museums briefed the committee about the mandate of the scheme highlighting the objectives of the scheme and the progress made on the scheme so far. He also presented before the committee the DPRs of 35 sites – to be executed in the first leg of the scheme. Out of these 35 sites, 17 are based out of Kashmir Division and 18 sites are from Jammu Division.
While reviewing the progress, CS said that the restoration of the heritage and architectural sites of J&K is a priority of the Government and coordinated efforts have to be taken up to restore the sites to their original positions. He directed the officers/officials to formulate and finalise short, medium, and long term plans for revival, restoration, preservation, and maintenance of architectural and heritage sites of J&K. He said that the short term plans should be immediately executed which include components like landscape, approach road, lighting, information boards, public amenities and the rest of the things that fall under long term plan will automatically follow.
After a comprehensive presentation and detailed discussion, the Executive Committee has given its approval for the execution of all the 35 projects. The committee has also approved the hiring of heritage consultancy services for efficient and expedited execution of the projects. In addition to that, a conceptual idea of “Heritage Mapping” was also presented before the committee by Daksh Dev, a Lieutenant Governor’s Sustainable Fellow working with the Department of Culture J&K UT.
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