DCs asked to hold 1 gram sabha in J&K panchayat by Sep 30

JAMMU: The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Tuesday called for holding at least one gram sabha meeting in every panchayat by September 30 to generate awareness on the campaign to ban single-use plastic, an official spokesperson said.
Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam chaired a video-conference with the deputy commissioners (DCs) of the Kashmir, Jammu and Ladakh divisions to review the preparations for the upcoming block development council (BDC) polls, implementation of the Back to Village programme and apple procurement.
The chief secretary asked the DCs to hold at least one gram sabha meet in every panchayat by September 30 and generate awareness on the campaign to ban single-use plastic, designation of a separate place for collection of plastic waste in each village and panchayat and "shramdhan" for collection of plastic waste on October 2, the spokesperson said.
The DCs of the Jammu division will hold a gram sabha meet on September 23, he added.
The chief secretary asked the DCs to gear up for the BDC polls, for which the preparatory work has already begun and the necessary notification relating to the election schedule will be issued shortly.
He said the process of holding the BDC polls will be completed by the end of October.
The chief secretary asked the DCs to use the grants of Rs 5 crore released for each district efficiently for the implementation of the Back to Village programme.
This is over and above the Rs 800 crore made available to the panchayats under the 14th Finance Commission grants.
The DCs were directed to monitor and review the progress of execution and implementation of projects with the chief engineers concerned.
The chief secretary asked the DC, Jammu to review the availability of construction material in the Jammu division with the DCs concerned.
As the finance department has commenced the budgeting process for 2020-21, the DCs were asked to ensure that the district budget was prepared diligently, with a focus on core activities that would lead to tangible outcomes and uploaded online through the Budget Estimation, Allocation and Monitoring System (BEAMS).
The DCs were also asked to speed up expenditure against the District Plan 2019-20, the spokesperson said.
The chief secretary asked the DCs to review the availability of state land in each district, which could be developed as a land bank for setting up industrial estates in the districts and for other big ticket projects like Medi-cities.
The DCs will complete the identification of land for the purpose by the end of September. They were also asked to submit proposals under the Digital Villages programme, the Model Tribal Village programme and also under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK), the spokesperson said.
PMJVK aims to address the development deficits in the identified minority-concentration areas. It was informed that all the 22 districts of the Jammu and Kashmir have been declared as minority-concentration districts and brought under the ambit of PMJVK.