Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR Sept 24: Asking the people to defeat the nefarious designs of frustrated political schools of thought, the Minister for Rural development, Panchayati Raj, Law Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohammad Sagar has said that they should understand that these power hungry politicians want to disturb the peaceful atmosphere of the State and derailed the development programme already initiated.
The Minister was addressing a huge gathering of Panchs and Sarpanchs of district Ganderbal during one day interaction seminar about the devolution of powers and status of implementation of various rural development schemes.
Commissioner/ Secretary, Rural Development Farooq Ahmed Peer, District Development Commissioner, Ganderbal Showket Ahmed Mir, Director Rural Development, Kashmir Mir Altaf Ahmed, CEO IWMP, G.H. Shah, Additional District Development Commissioner, Ganderbal Itrat Hussain Rafiqi and other senior officers of different departments were present.
The Minister said that certain disgruntled parties are trying their best to spread all types of rumours and falsehood among the people as they have got frustrated by the achievements registered by the Government in all spheres of life be it development or the effective decentralization of powers to the ground level. “The party has always acted against the interests of the people as they have preferred the power over the State and now are trying their level best to spread rumours and try to undo the work done by the present Government”, he added without naming PDP.
Equating the holding of Panchayati Raj elections and the subsequent decentralization of powers as a watershed in the political history of the State, the Minister said “we have fulfilled the promise of taking the Government to the grass root level and involving them in policy formulation as well as implementation.” He said that the necessary orders have already been passed for ensuring the empowerment of Panchs and Sarpanchs with powers of 14 vital departments and instructions have already been passed down the line to ensure that they are strictly adhered to. The Additional District Development Commissioner has been nominated as a Nodal Officer to oversee that the empowerment of Panchayati Raj Institutions is done in a proper and systematic manner.
The Minister also asked the Panchs and Sarpanchs to work in close coordination with the officers of different departments to ensure sustained development of their respective areas.
He said that Government has already released an amount of Rs 20 lakh per panchayat for construction of new Panchayat Ghars as well as a repair and renovation of the existing ones
The Minister later inaugurated the entry point under integrated water management programme at Darand, Ganderbal being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 6 crore.
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