Aspirational District Program reviewed by CM Thakur in Chamba

By News Desk Last updated Dec 24, 2023

Shimla: The officers of the State Government must work with greater commitment and zeal to ensure that the ongoing projects nearing completion in the district were completed within the stipulated time period so that the people of the district could be benefitted. This was stated by Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur while presiding over the review meeting of the Aspirational District Program and Other Developmental works of Chamba district at Chamba Thursday.
The Chief Minister said that in order to achieve the goal of building a New India, the Union Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi through NITI Aayog has selected 112 such districts in the whole country which were most backward in terms of development and these districts were designated as aspirational districts. He said that the Chamba district was also included under this ambitious program as it was felt that being a far-flung and hard district, it requires greater focus on matters of development. He said that Aspirational District Program was launched in district Chamba by the then Union Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda on January 22, 2018, with the objective to ensure inclusive and all-round development in the district. Under this program, on the basis of transparent parameters, a composite index was prepared taking into account various challenges faced by the citizens in terms of poverty, relatively weak and malnutrition, education status, inadequate infrastructure, etc., he added.
Thakur directed the officers to motivate the pregnant women to opt for institutional delivery. He said that for this special awareness campaign must be launched and para workers like Anganwari workers and ASHA workers should also sensitize and educate the people regarding the benefits of institutional deliveries. He said that the State Government has also started schemes to motivate the people to go for institutional delivery, besides ensuring effective implementation of the central scheme ‘Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritatav Abhiyan.’ He said that the farmers of the district must also be motivated to adopt natural farming as this would increase their yield along with enhance their income. He also felt the need to bring more and more areas under micro-irrigation so that the farmers could be motivated to cultivate off-season crops and vegetables.
Chief Minister, while expressing concern over the weak telecom and internet connectivity in some parts of the district, directed the BSNL, Airtel and Jio authorities to ensure better connectivity in the district. He also directed the Public Works Department to expedite work on various rural roads to strengthen road connectivity. He said that since the working season in a few areas of the district was limited, therefore, the work should be carried out on mission mode. He said that vacancies in the key departments of the district would also be filled up on priority. He said that the State Government would ensure that all the functional posts must be filled as a priority so that the pace of development does not get affected due to the need for staff. He directed the officers of Jal Shakti Department to lay special thrust on providing drinking water in water scarcity areas.
He said that Chamba district has marked progress in various indicators and the NITI Aayog has approved various projects for Chamba district as an incentive on the basis of better performance in delta ranking.
DC Chamba, D.C. Rana, welcomed the Chief Minister. He said, “the district got the second rank in the field of health and nutrition in March 2019, for which an amount of Rs. 3 crore was provided by NITI Aayog as an incentive. In the month of November 2020, the district got a good rank in basic infrastructure and an amount of Rs. 3 crore was received from NITI Aayog as an incentive. He said that in September 2021, the district got an overall good rank, for which an amount of Rs. 2 crores were received as an incentive.: He said that Projects are worth about Rs. 26.38 crore have been approved under CSR head, which was being spent on improvement. He said that an amount of about Rs. 15 crores were provided by NHPC, under CSR which was used to install MRI and CT scan machines in Medical College Chamba. He said that an amount of Rs. 3.27 crore has been provided by REC, which was being utilized to construct scientific labs in 19 schools. He assured the Chief Minister that the district administration would work with missionary deals to improve its ranking in Aspirational District Programs and also complete the ongoing projects within the stipulated time period. He also urged the Chief Minister to fill up various vacant posts in different departments in the district.
Deputy Speaker of State Vidhan Sabha Dr. Hansraj and Chief Whip Vikram Jaryal also gave their suggestions on the occasion and also underlined various issues of development on the occasion.
Member of Parliament Suresh Kashyap, MLA Chamba Pawan Nayar, MLA Bharmour Jia Lal, Chairman Marketing Committee D.D. Thakur, officers of various departments were present on the occasion. (UNI)