Monitor News Bureau
Jammu, Mar 16: Advisor to Lieutenant Governor Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar directed the officers to ensure that timely expenditure of funds and achieving the objectives of plan qualitatively should be the core of governance while implementing various schemes.
The Advisor made these comments while taking a detailed review of CAPEX budget and other Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSS) of Agriculture Department at Civil Secretariat here today.
The meeting was attended by Secretary Agriculture and Horticulture Department, Manzoor Ahmad Lone; Director Agriculture, Jammu, Inderjeet; Director Sericulture, Jammu, M.A Qadri; Director Command Area Development, Jammu, Smita Sethi while as Director Agriculture Kashmir, Aijaz Andrabi participated in the meeting through video conferencing.
Speaking in the meeting, Advisor Bhatnagar said that Agriculture is the backbone of the nation and contributes a fair portion in the GDP of this country. He emphasised that 70% of the population directly or indirectly is associated with this sector so a good policy implementation is the need of the hour. He stressed upon the officials to utilise the money efficiently besides maintaining the quality of work.
The Advisor also directed the officials to monitor the works in the field constantly so that proper performance is managed as well as money is utilised with efficiency.
Further Advisor Bhatnagar urged the officials to increase the coverage under Centrally Sponsored Schemes and under National Saffron Mission besides increasing the sphere of Soil Health Card scheme by including the uncovered areas.
Secretary Horticulture while speaking in the meeting informed that Rs. 52.43 crore have been spent under the CAPEX budget while as Rs.22.07 crore have been spent through various centrally sponsored schemes. He also informed the meeting about the coverage of beneficiaries in various schemes like Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), National Saffron Mission, Kissan Credit Card Scheme, Soil Health Card and other beneficiary oriented schemes.
Giving details about ongoing projects as well works under languishing projects, the Secretary informed the meeting around 41 projects under CAPEX will be completed by March end while as 7 projects under languishing scheme will be completed by this month.
Meanwhile, Advisor Bhatnagar also chaired the review meeting of CAPEX budget and other Centrally Sponsored Schemes of Horticulture Department.
Speaking in the meeting, the Advisor maintained that horticulture sector is the lifeline of Jammu and Kashmir and is a major contributor towards our GDP.
He further said that the sector provides employment to a large chunk of population and has a potential of creating more employment avenues if exploited properly.
The Advisor established that timely expenditure of the approved plan and funds should be the priority of the department without compromising on the quality of works executed. He also laid emphasis on the fact that our focus should be to maintain price reasonability by proper tendering as well as requisite procurements through GeM.
The Advisor stressed on bringing the fallow land under cash crops so that income generation gets a boost at the grassroots level.
Advisor Bhatnagar also took stock of the ongoing projects and directed the concerned to complete them within stipulated deadlines so that common people get benefitted soon.
Secretary Horticulture, Manzoor Ahmad Lone informed the meeting that about Rs. 36.65 crore have been spent under CAPEX budget, Rs.46.82 crore under MIDH and Rs.11.04 crore under PMDP.
The meeting was also informed that about Rs.37.56 crore have been disbursed by the department among various beneficiaries as a subsidy component for Pack Houses, Vermi Compost, Horticulture Villages, CA stores etc.
The Secretary informed the meeting that the department is expanding rapidly and around 690 hectares of land have been brought under horticulture this year while as 34 hectares of senile orchards have been rejuvenated. He also informed the meeting that 11.15 hectares of area has been brought under protected cultivation besides 191 Vermi compost units have been established to promote organic farming among the people.
Besides Secretary Agriculture and Horticulture, the meeting was attended by Director Horticulture Jammu, Ram Sevak; Managing Director JKHPMC, Shafat Sultan and other officers while as Director Horticulture Kashmir, Aijaz Ahmad Bhat participated in the meeting through video conferencing.
