By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 6 Jan: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami held a review meeting of the Rural Development Department at the Secretariat, here, today. He announced that an amount of Rs 130 crores would be spent on fencing in the hill districts of the state to protect agriculture and horticulture from wild animals. He also stated that on the lines of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, a Mukhyamantri Gram Sadak Yojana would be launched in Uttarakhand for expansion of roads in rural areas of the state.
The CM also announced that, on the lines of Prime Minister’s Vibrant Village Programme, some villages on the Nepal border would be identified and developed under the Chief Minister’s Frontier Area Development Scheme. It may be recalled that four villages, namely Niti, Mana, Malari and Gunji, have been identified along the state’s border with China for the PM Vibrant Village Programme.
The Chief Minister also released the quarterly magazine of the department, titled ‘Aajeevika Darpan’.
Reminding the officials that under the Amrit Sarovar Yojana the target of making 1200 more Amrit Sarovars (ponds) has been achieved, the CM directed them to pay adequate attention now to increasing the livelihood opportunities through these water bodies. These water bodies ought to be linked to fisheries. He said that a proposal should be brought soon to increase the amount of Rs 48,000 being given to beneficiaries under Pashu Baad (animal fencing). He further directed the officials to proactively promote agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandry in the state. Work on apple and kiwi needed to be done in mission mode he stressed, adding that he would review the progress in this respect every fortnight.
The Chief Minister said that by promoting horticulture in the state, efforts would be made to rapidly boost the income of the people. Apart from promoting local products of the state, he also gave instructions to arrange their proper online marketing. He said that, under the Pradhan Mantri Aawaas Yojana Gramin, it should be ensured that work is done speedily on the remaining housing construction works as targeted. He also emphasised on working in a planned manner to make 1.25 lakh women members of the groups Lakhpati Didis by the year 2025 as per the target of the state government. He wanted special attention paid to the construction of buildings being constructed by various departments in accordance with mountain style architecture. He further directed them to ensure early payment of compensation to those due to be paid under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana.
The meeting was informed that in the Amrit Sarovar Yojana under MNREGA, Uttarakhand stood first in Aadhaar seeding and third in timely payment among centrally sponsored schemes. Under the National Rural Livelihood Mission, Uttarakhand also was in first place in budget allocation/approval, revolving fund and community investment fund (RF & CIF) and second place in the Lakhpati Didi survey. Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Gramin, Uttarakhand ranked fifth place in the country.
It was stated in the meeting that, under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, over the last five years, 11,621 km of roads had been constructed in the state at a cost of Rs 5,838 crores. Roads were constructed and 875 habitations were connected. From the formationb of Uttarakhand till 2017, a total of 1310 works of 10,243 km were sanctioned and 955 habitations were connected under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana in the state at a cost of Rs 3,994 crores. Whereas, since 2017, a total of 1,468 projects have been approved in the state at a cost of Rs 6,375 crore and 875 habitations have been connected. As many as 56 percent of the jobs were given to women under the scheme. Under the livelihood package, 13,500 families have been connected with livelihood resources. Under the Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana-National Rural Livelihood Mission, 3.49 lakh families were organised into 52,613 groups in the past 5 years. The Revolving Fund was distributed to 38,882 groups, CIF funds were distributed to 23,952 groups, while 29,289 group members were recognised as Lakhpati Didis.
Rural Development Minister Ganesh Joshi, Additional Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, Secretary BVRC Purushottam, Commissioner, Rural Development, Anand Swaroop, Additional Secretaries Nitika Khandelwal, Udayraj, Arunendra Chauhan, Yogendra Yadav and officers of the Rural Development Department were present at the meeting.
