Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 8: Minister for Finance and Ladakh Affairs, Abdul Rahim Rather on Friday said that grant of honorarium to Panchayat representatives in Jammu and Kashmir is under consideration of the Government.
Responding to issue taken up during his interaction with various delegations and a large number of people at Sher-i-Kashmir Bhawan, this afternoon, he reiterated that the Government has taken various initiatives to empower Panchayati Raj Institutions for playing a larger role in development at the grass roots level.
The issue was raised by a delegation of Panchs and Sarpanchs, led by MLCs Dr Shehnaz Ganai and Ali Mohammed Dar.
Responding to the demand for restoration of power supply in Poonch, raised by a delegation led by Vice President Peer Mushtaq Ahmed Bukhari, Kr. Rachpal Singh, Aijaz Jan, MLA Poonch, Dr Shehnaz Ganai, MLC and M R Querishi, the Minister spoke to the Commissioner Secretary Power and asked him to complete the restoration work at the earliest.
The interactive session, second in the series of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah’s initiative to address the public issues, enabled people belonging to different walks of life to highlight various issues and problems.
Mr Rather sought larger public participation in decision making, saying the will of the people forms main plank of development strategy of the Coalition Government. He said that assuaging urges of the people as per their aspirations is imperative in parliamentary democracy.
He described the Chief Minister’s initiative as historic, saying such interactive sessions provide opportunity to those in the Government to frame up policies and programmes as per needs of the people besides having a feel of their problems.
The Finance Minister stressed the need for continuing this initiative and added that this will enable the people and the party workers to have exhaustive, free and frank discussions on various issues. Such interactive sessions will also enable the administration to reach out to the people in a big way, he maintained.
Dwelling upon the initiative taken by the Chief Minister, Provincial President National Conference Jammu, Devender Singh Rana said that this is step towards fulfilling genuine urges of the people and solving their pressing problems. He said the initiative has opened up a channel of communication between the party workers and the leadership which will go a long way in further rejuvenating the organization.
The Provincial President urged the workers to highlight issues of public importance before the Ministers concerned during the public hearings at National Conference headquarters.
Later, the Minister heard the delegations and workers individually and passed on necessary instructions for solving various problems.
The delegations which met the Minister included Associated Chamber of Traders Federation, Bari Brahmana Industrial Association, Raghunath Bazar Shopkeepers Association, Pharmaceutical Association, Transport Association, Bus Stand Shopkeepers Association, Brick Klin Owners Association, Spare Parts Association, Casual Labourers of PDD besides deputations from Kathua, Poonch, Rajouri, Billawar, Ramban, Banihal, R S Pura, Gool, Arnas, Suchetgarh, National Conference Students Union, Bakarwals and a large number of people.
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