Formulate 2023-24 district Capex plans by Feb 15: CS to DCs

New Delhi, Jan 5: Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta Thursday impressed upon all the Departments to assist and aid each other in implementation of government policies for optimal results.
He made these remarks while chairing a meeting of Administrative Secretaries, Divisional and District Administration to review the pace and progress of developmental works and budget expenditure in the UT of J&K.
Dr Mehta enquired from each of the officers the Departments and Districts wise completion of works during the year. He noted that each of the department should help other departments so that the government works as an unit and achieves its targets in time and implements its policies smoothly. He expressed that each of the officer in any department should own the responsibility of being a catalyst in furthering the government policies and schemes. He stated that all of us should work with a right frame of mind to achieve better results in a time-bound manner.
He enjoined upon them to accelerate the pace of completion of targeted works. He impressed upon the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) that it is solely their responsibility to access the funds under Centrally Sponsored Schemes share of which forms part of their respective District Plans.
The Chief Secretary directed the DCs to take the process of plan formation in their hands well on time so that the necessary tendering of works is achieved before the onset of the month of May. He stated that the fund releases would normally be made in the first week of April itself for all Departments and they should be fully geared to change the work culture . He further told them that the tentative plan size for financial year 2023-24 would be communicated to them after 15th of this month and their respective plans should be ready by the middle of February this year with due consultation with the stakeholders.
He emphasized that the demand for wage employment and Self Employment must be saturated in each Panchayat and town and designated Prabhari Officers shall be responsible for the same. He remarked that the administration is also working towards skilling of youth to help them in securing the jobs in private sector besides giving them opportunities to get government jobs on merit. He made out that with the establishment of Industries here in next few years thousands of new jobs would get created for them. Dr Mehta asked each of the Deputy Commissioner to create a District Employment Plan by consolidating all the available schemes rolled out by the Centre and UT. He advised them to work out in each department the schemes available for extending employment to youth. He told them to take full advantage of schemes and programmes like Mission Youth, Himayat, NRLM, Atmanirbhar Bharat, PMEGP, PM Mudra Yojana, Make in India, Stand Up Start Up India, SC/ST specific schemes etc.
The Chief Secretary observed that districts are the fulcrum of development and happens to be the building blocks of the UT. He stressed on planning better at grassroots level to enable percolation of the benefits of development down to the common masses.
He also underscored the need of paying more attention towards Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav, Mission Amrit Sarovar, and Digital J&K. He complimented the IT Department for converting 444 services into the online mode and working towards making J&K fully digital as per the vision of LG Administration. He asked for completing this task up to the middle of next month.
The Chief Secretary also enquired from each department about the number of works completed this fiscal and during previous financial year. He made out that the set target for completion of works should be met without any fail. He also urged them to achieve all the deliverables set for each of the department by following them with due urgency.
The Chief Secretary was informed that the total plan outlay for districts of J&K was pegged at Rs 2212692.73 lakh with 42074 new works to be taken up under it. It was further apprised that almost 95% works stands tendered out with 96% works accorded the requisite Administrative Approval and 90% works already allotted for completion as per the given timelines for each of the project.