Srinagar, July 20: On the concluding day of the workshop organised by the J&K Planning, Development & Monitoring Department for administration, Chief Secretary, Dr Arun Kumar Mehta remarked that J&K is well on track to achieve the milestones of ‘Zero Poverty' and ‘Housing for All' by the year 2024.
Dr Mehta was speaking about the theme of ‘Systems, Processes & Use of Technology for SDG Implementation' also attended by Anurag Goel, Former Secretary, Corporate Affairs, GoI and SDG Advisor, UNDP; various Administrative Secretaries and other UNDP Experts.
In his address, the Chief Secretary made out that the accomplishment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is a global framework for making the required all-round progress. He stated that as discussed the process of budgeting in line with the SDGs has proved beneficial for many of the States/UTs here and J&K too is alive to this practice for achieving the desired goals.
He recalled that the UT intends to cover about 1.9 lakh houses under PMAY and these are enough to saturate the housing needs of all the houseless persons. He stated that J&K has moved towards top ranking States /UTs in Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen and each of its villages is ODF+ now but a lot more needs to be accomplished to reach the desired outcome and move to the model category.
The Chief Secretary stated that J&K aims at implementing SDG 2.0 as its objective with a defined roadmap and optimal timelines. He advised us to have a clear idea about where to see ourselves after 6 months, 1 year or a decade from here. He also directed for making the SDG portal live by next month for the UT which would give real time data for targeted interventions.
In his presentation, Goel dwelt upon effective systems, processes and technologies that can help in faster implementation of SDGs. He asked for creating awareness about technology which he said is not based on IT tools alone but future technologies in sync with changing times. He exuded hope that J&K has the right direction and leadership to steer its way forward in smoothly implementing all the policies for achieving SDGs.
