Jammu, Jan 03: Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo on Friday chaired a meeting of Agriculture Production Department to review implementation of different sub-projects taken up under the flagship Holistic Agriculture Development Programme (HADP) in J&K. The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary, APD, Principal Secretary, Finance, VC SKUAST J/K, MD, JK Bank, MD, HADP, Deputy Commissioners, HoDs in APD besides other concerned officers while out station officers participated online.
The Chief Secretary impressed upon the concerned to focus on establishment of units under different sub-projects of this programme. He maintained that the programme is target-oriented with milestones to achieve at different intervals. He maintained that the productivity of this programme would be gauged by the activity-wise outcomes registered in different districts having a direct bearing on its potential to generate employment in the UT.
He sensitized the district administration about the need for a periodical review of the targets so that the concerned sectoral officers chase them purposefully. He directed the Mission Director to personally examine the performance of each officer for course correction down the line.
Dulloo also enquired from the DCs about the progress achieved under this ambitious programme in their respective districts. He asked them to give priority to the areas depicting poor performance. He also reviewed project-wise applications received and approved by districts besides units established in each along with the position of funds received and utilized.
Earlier in the meeting, Principal Secretary, APD, Shailendra Kumar, gave an introduction about the overall progress of this programme. He highlighted the steps being taken up by the department to achieve the annual targets set under this 5-year programme.
It was given out that full disbursal of subsidy amount in favour of around 11,000 units had been done till date under this mission. It was added that the number of courses would be increased to 161 shortly under Daksh Kisan educational portal.
Moreover, nearly 4000 events had been organised under Kisan Sampark Abhiyan 3.0 with a total attendance of more than 1,85,000 farmers covering around 92% panchayats, as informed in the meeting.
Regarding the approvals given by the district-level committees, the meeting was apprised that its rate hovers at around 74%. It also discussed the performance and establishment of Kisan Khidmat Ghars and of Krishi Udhyamis in different districts. A portal demonstrating their performance on real real-time basis is under creation through BISAG-N to bring efficiency in the functioning of both, the meeting was told.
The sub-projects discussed in the meeting included Farm mechanisation and automation, development of fodder resources, Development of Seed & Seed Multiplication chain, promotion of Niche Crops, promotion of vegetable/exotic vegetables under open and protected cultivation, strengthening of agriculture marketing, Medicinal and Aromatic plants, beekeeping, promotion of Sericulture, promotion of Millets and Nutri-cereals, self-sufficiency in mutton production and promotion of year-round mushroom cultivation among others. The plan included a total of twenty-nine projects and the interventions made under HADP are going to create employment opportunities for over 2.8 lakh youth with establishment of around 19,000 enterprises.
Moreover, 2.5 lakh persons shall be skilled in various agri-enterprises ranging from seed production, precision farming of vegetables, bee-rearing, cocoon production, mushroom farming, integrated and organic agriculture, high-density fruit farming to processing, dairying, sheep and poultry farming as well as fodder production.
PM Surya Ghar Yojana: CS fixes target of 30,000 installations by March
Chief Secretary, Atal Dulloo on Friday chaired a meeting to take firsthand appraisal of the progress made in installation of solar rooftops under PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana in Jammu and Kashmir.
Present in the meeting were Principal Secretary, PDD, Principal Secretary, Finance, Commissioner Secretary, Science & Technology, MD JPDCL/KPDCL, CEO, JAKEDA, Chief Engineers and other concerned officers in person and through virtual mode.
Dulloo emphasised upon the concerned departments to carry out rigorous IEC campaigns to generate awareness among the public about this scheme. He called for creating awareness material in local languages for easy comprehension besides sending bulk SMSs to the targeted consumers.
He directed reaching out to each panchayat with full-fledged programs distributing IEC materials in local languages besides demonstrating educational videos and success stories there. He enjoined the Discoms to designate nodal officers among their engineers to accomplish these tasks with relevant feedback to their higher-ups.
The Chief Secretary observed that such schemes are reform-oriented with direct benefits accruing to public. He asked for making concerted efforts to increase the number of applicants and timely installations in favour of each of them. He also fixed a target for the Discoms to achieve installation of around 30,000 solar rooftops across the districts of the UT. He advised intensifying the outreach campaign till the desired outcomes are achieved.
Principal Secretary, PDD, H Rajesh Prasad, informed the meeting that the financial institutions/banks are extending loans at a rate of 7 percent in order to make the installations easier for the consumers. Besides, the central financial assistance is being directly disbursed among the applicants in their bank accounts only after 15 days of solar rooftop installation by the vendors.
He revealed that the savings under this scheme, even if installed after taking credit from banks, are attractive. He informed that a subsidy of Rs 33,000/kw is being given by GoI with additional subsidy of Rs 3000/kw by UT government upto the installation capacity of 3 kw in favour of domestic consumers. It was further disclosed that around 11,000 applications had been received by the respective Discoms in Jammu and Kashmir divisions while 617 installations had been done till date. It was added that the savings are going to increase with future revisions in power tariff. It was informed that this scheme is going to substantially improve our progress on restricting AT&C losses bringing efficiency in power supply to the consumers.
The Chief Secretary, later, reviewed the solarisation of government buildings through J&K Energy Development Agency (JAKEDA). He asked the department to bring further improvement in implementation of this scheme so that the necessary wattage is achieved before its sunset date.
Commissioner Secretary, Science & Technology, Saurabh Bhagat, while informing the meeting about the overall progress of this scheme revealed that 4108 buildings had been covered thereby installing a capacity of 35.2 MW. In addition, the vendors have installed capacity of 13.6 MW till date.
Regarding the overall quantum of work, it was informed that under Capex a total of 70 MW capacity of grid-connected solar rooftops would be installed on government buildings with an additional 238 MW under RESCO mode by NHPC and JAKEDA cumulatively.
