Srinagar, Feb 12: Continuing with pre-budget consultations, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today held a series of meetings with public representatives from various districts of Kashmir at the Civil Secretariat, Srinagar.
The Chief Minister chaired pre-budget consultations with the chairpersons of District Development Councils (DDCs) and Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from the districts of Srinagar, Ganderbal and Bandipora, who participated both in person and virtually.
The consultation covered a wide range of issues, including traffic decongestion by exploring alternate routes, parking lots in downtown Srinagar, reducing vehicular pressure on roads, constructing flyovers, community halls. The restoration of water bodies, improvement of sports infrastructure, vertical housing projects, dredging of Dal interiors and the development of an efficient drainage system were also discussed.
MLAs highlighted the need for better drinking water quality, upgraded sewage treatment plants, improved electricity supply, and an effective solid waste management system. They further stressed the importance of scientific disposal of waste at Achan landfill site, identifying new dumping sites, introducing water ambulances in Dal Lake, dredging its canals, enhancing relief for fire victims, widening of interior roads & boulevard road and removing existing bottlenecks. A demand for creating employment avenues for the youth of Srinagar was also emphasized and making some provisions in the annual budget.
They highlighted the need for improvements in health and education, as well as infrastructure development in respect of roads, water supply, power distribution, and irrigation.
The discussions also centered on boosting tourism and enhancing youth services and sports facilities. The MLAs emphasized the importance of ensuring employment opportunities for local youth in various projects and addressed key public demands concerning their respective constituencies.
The Deputy Commissioners from each district presented a detailed presentations outlining the district profiles, demographics, and existing infrastructure in key sectors, including health, education, roads, drainage, public health engineering (PHE), and power sector.
The presentations also provided insights into the District Capex, Centrally Sponsored Schemes and ongoing projects under the current plan.
Karra skips CM’s pre-budget consultation meeting
Srinagar, Feb 12: Barring Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) chief Tariq Hamid Kara, seven Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA) from Srinagar attended the pre-budget consultations meeting convened by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah here on Wednesday.
During the two-hour-long meeting with the MLAs at Civil Secretariat here, threadbare discussions were held regarding the development in their respective constituencies and other issues including education, unemployment and the public grievances.
All the MLAs from across Srinagar except MLA Central-Shalteng and Jammu & Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) Chief, Tariq Hameed Karra attended the meeting with the chief Minister.
The MLAs said every issue being faced by the people were raised and the priority has been given to the widening of roads, making Srinagar developed. “The upgradation of infrastructure in schools and sports fields’, were also raised,” Ahsan Pardesi, MLA Lal Chowk said.
He added that the issues being faced by the people associated with the stone quarry were also raised by him in the meeting.
Shameema Firdous, MLA Habba Kadal, said that the priority issues related to health, education and roads were raised during the meeting. “We have discussed the road widening and other basic issues. Srinagar has been given a name of smart city, which doesn’t exist, thus we raised the demands to make Srinagar smart,” she said.
Pertinently, this was the fifth pre-budget consultation meeting chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah ahead of the Budget Session in Jammu and Kashmir, which is slated to begin from March 03.
