Sustainable Entrepreneurship
Bilal Ahmad Khan, a post-graduate from Sheikhpora (Anantnag) started a fish farm in his native village in 2007 with assistance from the Fisheries Department under Prime Minister’s package employing 10 people. Encouraged by initial gains, he diversified the activities and built a small pond and children amusement park by its side. He purchased pedal boats and other pieces of equipment from Kolkata and started providing boating and recreation services, the first of its kind in that area. The government assistance helped him rear carp fish (common carp, grass carp and silver carp). The government has been regularly providing feed and stock from the department and also participated in its awareness programmes on the latest and efficient fish farming practices. A Covid Warrior
Jarnail Singh, an ambulance driver from Samba ferries Covid19 patients across north India including Delhi, Amritsar, Jammu and other places. While lauding his efforts, the government said he (Singh) even himself lifted the patients and put them in the ambulance as the attendants refused to come near in the fear of contracting the diseases. He has so far admitted more than 300 positive patients in Samba district, and taken 103 in the last month alone. Last year he has transported more than 1500 patients to different cities.
A Crew In Chenab
In a first of its kind, the administration in Kishtwar managed to bring the Barood, a web series, crew for shooting in the Chenab valley. Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar Ashok Sharma last week welcomed the crew members for 25-day shooting programme. The Associate Producer Mohsin Bhat and Raashid Zaffar Doolwal as Legal advisor of this project accompanied the star cast from Television and Bollywood including Sara Khan, Abhilash Kumar, Nikita Sharma, Reehan Roy. The shooting will be held mostly in the beautiful Paddar.
Awarding Forest Guards
Jammu and Kashmir Government institutionalized awards to recognize outstanding work done by Forest protection personnel, Village Forest Committee(s), Educational Institutions and Gram Panchayats to protect the green gold. The awards would be given on World Forestry Day (21 March) every year. The award shall consist of a citation and a medallion along with a cash award of Rs 25,000 to be given to each recipient and will also be noted in the Annual Performance Report of the official.
Sustainable Fellowship
Jammu and Kashmir government rolled out Sustainable Development Fellowship for the engineering, management and other graduates of the Union Territory in wake of the abolishment of the Self Help Groups set up earlier for them. The programme, which shall be funded by the Government and implemented in collaboration with IIT, Jammu, will focus on providing immediate catalytic support to improve government service delivery, removing gaps in policy implementation, and generating valuable insights for policymakers and implementing agencies. Under the programme, every year 10 scholars/graduates from IIT Jammu, IIM Jammu, NIT Srinagar, and other National Institutes shall be selected, who would have requisite work experience and have qualified GATE, MAT, NET examinations. Initially, the tenure of fellowship will be for 2 years, which shall be further extendable by 3 years. The rate of fellowship shall be Rs. 60,000/- per month. The field travel and other incidentals will be reimbursed as per the adopted policy. Reconnecting People
The Roads and Buildings Department has completed 3167 km of new road length in 2020-21, which is more than double as compared to the length covered in the previous 5 years. The department has covered around 4200 km road under PMGSY I&II connecting 191 habitations, besides completing 237 languishing projects this year. Under the Pot-hole Free Road programme, this year, the department will cover a 6000 km road length free of pot-holes. The R&B department is maintaining a massive road length of about 41584 km, besides 1343 bridges across Jammu and Kashmir.
Flying By Night
The Jammu and Srinagar airports will soon be made operational for commercial flights at night hours by incorporating suitable facilities and arrangements. The government said that infrastructural and technical facilities exist at Srinagar Airport to operate flights up to 10 pm. However, during the winter month’s visibility is greatly reduced causing interruptions to air connectivity. The government said that to improve night-visibility at the Srinagar Airport, efforts are afoot to complete the lighting project at the earliest which would facilitate flights during low visibility round the year. Similarly, the ongoing air-strip repair works at Jammu Airport will be completed this week followed by the installation of lights by the month-end to enable operation of night flights at Jammu Airport. The Ministry of Civil Aviation is also planning to establish international air connectivity through the Srinagar Airport, which currently operates international flights for Hajj pilgrimage only.
