Rs 2386 Cr Budget For Education, Sports
Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha e-inaugurated and laid the e-foundation of sports infrastructure projects worth Rs 18.10 crore funded by CAPEX, JKIDFC, Khelo India, and PMDP. “We are working with a mission to take sports to Panchayat level and provide opportunities to the youth living in far-flung areas. With better training and modern infrastructure, our youths can represent the country in international events,” he remarked. “The Government is providing sports infrastructure and facilities to the young budding sportspersons of the UT. Now, it is the responsibility of the coaches and officials to hone the talent and improve J&K’s medal tally in national and international level competitions.”
Sinha said the combined budget of education and sports of Jammu and Kashmir is Rs 2386 crores, which is way more than various bigger States and UTs. He advised the Sports Council to work strategically, identify such places where youth are performing well and develop them as a Special Sports Hub.
The projects inaugurated include Synthetic Football Turf at Khel Gaon Nagrota worth Rs 5 cr; Mini Stadium at Bhour Camp, Chatha costing Rs 1 cr and Playfield at Purmandal at a cost of Rs 2 cr. The Mini Stadium at Bhour Camp will benefit 5000 youth by accommodating games like Cricket, Volleyball, Kabaddi. The e-foundation was laid for Synthetic Athletic Track at Jammu University costing Rs 6 cr.
Forest Cover Better Than National Average
Under Green J&K Drive-2021, the government would plant 13 million saplings, Lt Governor, Manoj Sinha said. The plan is to bring the two-third geographical area of Jammu and Kashmir under the forest and tree cover, which, right now is about 55 per cent, substantially higher than the national average of 24.56 per cent. He called for a balance between development and conservation.
Public transporter, JKRTC has earned a revenue of Rs 75.03 crore during 2020-21 which includes Rs 64.95 crore as operational revenue and Rs 10.08 crore as non-operational revenue. It has purchased 503 new vehicles including 277 trucks, 185 buses and 41 AC buses.
Srinagar To Have Waste To Energy Plant
The recent meeting of the State Level Apex Committee (SLAC) on Swachh Bharat Mission-Urban (SBM-U) that Chief Secretary Dr Arun K Mehta presided, was informed that efforts are underway for scientific disposal of solid waste. Currently, 100 per cent door-to-door collection of solid waste is being done in 984 wards with complete source segregation in 178 wards. The meeting was told that as per the approved action plans for 76 ULBs and Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC), the Department is undertaking decentralized solid waste management via dedicated source segregation, door-to-door collection, primary and secondary transportation, intermediate waste storage, scientific processing, and final disposal as per Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. Further, Municipal Committees of Pahalgam and Gulmarg have established processing plants with auto-composters and magnetic disintegrators to process bio-degradable and non-biodegradable wastes, respectively.
Moreover, JMC is setting up a 350 TPD solid waste processing plant in collaboration with the National Agriculture Corporative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED). JMC has also established an integrated solid waste management facility at Bandurakh with the capacity of 125 TPD for 26 municipal wards, besides, undertaking bio-remediation of 1,25,000 MTs of legacy waste from the Bhagwati Nagar dumping site.
Similarly, Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) is setting up a waste-to-energy plant with a capacity of 625 MTPD waste processing and 5MW energy generation at Achan, Srinagar. The Apex Committee approved the action plan of solid waste management for SMC for Integrated Solid Waste Management (ISWM) facilities at an estimated cost of Rs 529.75 crore over the next five years. The Committee also approved the revised solid waste management action plan worth Rs 415.21 crore for JMC.
JK Bank commissioned full-fledged business units at Dhobiwan (Tangmarg), Memender (Shopian), and Warpora (Sopore) taking the bank’s total tally of such business units to 955.
TRC Has Trekking Equipment Hire Shop
Secretary Tourism and Culture Department, Sarmad Hafeez inaugurated the Trekking Equipment Hire Shop established by the Directorate of Tourism Kashmir at Tourist Reception Centre (TRC). The shop will offer good quality trekking equipment where tourists or trekkers, mountaineers and adventure enthusiasts can hire all trekking and mountaineering equipment for adventure sports. Besides, it offers the best camping, climbing, hiking, trekking equipment available at nominal rates with equipment like rucksacks, sleeping bags, mats, tents and other equipment for trekking.
Jammu and Kashmir Skill Development Mission has initiated the Youth Aspiration Survey and Skill Gap Survey which will enable the Government and stakeholder departments and organizations to re-orient the skill initiatives as per youth aspirations and market requirements.
The Shalimar MoU Signed
J&K Government inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with JSW Foundation for restoration and conservation of Shalimar and Nishat Gardens at Rs 7 crore each. JSW Foundation will assist and support Jammu and Kashmir both financially and technically in preserving Shalimar and Nishat gardens under CSR. Lt Governor oversaw the signing of the MoU.
