Srinagar :On the second day of its four-day visit to Jammu and Kashmir, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs today held a meeting with top civil administration to discuss developmental scenario and people’s welfare measures in the Union Territory.At the outset, Chief Secretary of J&K, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta gave a detailed presentation highlighting the achievements and the functioning of all the departments of the UT.The Committee comprising of 28 Members of Parliament from Lok Sabha as well as Rajya Sabha is headed by senior Congress leader and Member of the Parliament, Shri Anand Sharma.Detailing about the steps taken in the past few years for democratic decentralization, the meeting was informed about the conduct of elections for District Development Councils and Block Development Councils thus strengthening the grassroot level democracy in the UT.The meeting was told that the region has now three-tier democratic set up in place and Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Urban Local Bodies have been further empowered. Besides, public outreach programmes Back to Village, Jan Abhiyan, My Town My Pride etc were conducted across J&K.With respect to the power scenario in J&K, the panel was informed that power generation projects have been fast-paced and 2500 MW would be added by the year 2025.The Committee was informed about the road connectivity, water supply and was briefed about the status of schemes like Jal Jeevan Mission and achievement of 100 per cent piped water supply to all rural schools and Anganwadi Centres in 18 districts of the UT.While terming the Tourism and Industries as priority sectors, the meeting also deliberated upon the issues of Industrial Development, Tourism sector, employment of youth and women empowerment, sports activities. The meeting also discussed resettlement of Kashmiri Migrants in Kashmir.Commenting on the covid-19 management in the UT, the panel appreciated COVID-19 mitigation and relief during the pandemic and recognized UT administration’s efforts and also implementation of e-office and other administrative reforms undertaken by the UT administration.Earlier, the committee held an interactive session with the beneficiaries of Self Help Groups, representatives of Farmer Producer Organizations, high-density apple growers, saffron producers etc.On the occasion, the horticulturists and agriculturists representatives put forth their suggestions before the panel who assured that their recommendations would be considered suitably.Among other things, they also raised the issues of marketing of produce, storage capacity and cluster cold storage.On the occasion, the beneficiaries of youth-centric schemes and programmes also interacted with the committee members and raised the demand of the establishment of skill-specific institutions in far-flung areas of Jammu and Kashmir.The panel also visited CRPF camp of 132 battalion housed at Nedous Hotel Maulana Azad Road Srinagar.The committee members held an interaction with the officers and Jawans of the camp.Financial Commissioner (Additional Chief Secretary), Atal Dulloo; Principal Secretary Home, Shaleen Kabra; Principal Secretary Housing & Urban Development Department, Dheeraj Gupta; Principal Secretary Industries & Commerce, Ranjan Prakash Thakur; Principal Secretary Youth Services and Sports, Alok Kumar; Commissioner Secretary Labour & Employment, Ms Sarita Chouhan; Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Pandurang K Pole; Commissioner Secretary Jal Shakti Department, M Raju; Secretary Social Welfare Department, Ms Sheetal Nanda; Secretary DMRR&R, Simrandeep Singh; Secretary Planning, Development & Monitoring, Ms Sushma Chouhan; Secretary Tribal Affairs & CEO Mission Youth J&K, Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary; Secretary Tourism & Culture, Sarmad Hafeez, Secretary Law & Parliamentary Affairs, Achal Sethi; Mission Director Rural Livelihood Mission, Dr Syed Sehrish Asgar; Director Information & Public Relations, Rahul Pandey and other concerned were also present during the interactive sessions.
