Srinagar, (Samajweekly) In a historic decision on Wednesday, Rs 12,600.58 crore District Capex Budget for 2021-22, more than double of previous year’s budget of Rs 5,134.40 crore, has been approved for the equitable development of Jammu and Kashmir with the active involvement of panchayats, block development councils (BDCs) and district development councils (DDCs).
The District Capex Budget for all the 20 districts of the Union Territory was approved during a high-level meeting chaired by J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha.
During the marathon meeting, 20 chairpersons of DDCs and all the Deputy Commissioners gave a brief overview of their respective district plans.
Highlighting the key features of the District Capex Budget, Sinha observed that the community need-based plan has been prepared through public/PRI participation, which focuses on rapid rise in the standard of living of the people, employment opportunities for the locals, ensuring better roads, potable water and electricity, tourism potential, empowering youth and determining other priorities as per the public demand.
The Lt Governor said that the bottom-up approach has been adopted to map optimal strategy for socio-economic development, sustainable and inclusive growth at the grassroots level, strengthening of basic amenities, and development of human capital by solidifying health and educational institutions.
For the first time, after the detailed deliberations, a plan has been prepared with collective efforts of the PRIs and the administration. The active participation of the public and their representatives in the planning process has laid a strong foundation for the developmental plans at the level of the gram panchayats, blocks and districts, the Lt Governor noted.
The district plan preparations started at the panchayat level and through BDCs, it finally reached the DDC level, he added.
With this historic move, the three-tier Panchayati Raj system has been further empowered through funds, functions and functionaries in J&K to cater to the developmental needs of the people through efficient mobilisation of resources, added Sinha.
The Lt Governor also directed the Deputy Commissioners to take urgent action in order to tackle the implementation constraints in the infrastructure projects.
More than 80 per cent works taken up this year should be completed within 12 months with the true spirit of ‘Jan Bhagidari’ and through the help of PRIs, the Lt Governor told the DCs.
Sinha further informed that the government is initiating a district evaluation framework which will be finalised soon and the performances of the districts and their rankings will be published on a monthly basis.
An institutional mechanism will be put in place for monthly review of the progress made in every district, he added.
