Minister for Rural Development Department Abdul Rahman Veeri on Tuesday directed the BDOs for creation of Vermi Composit units for producing organic manure under MGNREGA so that organic farming is promoted in rural areas.

The Minister was speaking at an introductory meeting with the senior functionaries of Rural Development Department and district administration of Jammu Division and to review the achievements under various schemes/programmes.

Minister of State for Rural Development and PR Shakti Raj Parihar, Secretary RDD Sheetal Nanda, Deputy Commissioners of Jammu Division, Director RDD Jammu R K Bhat, Director Rural Sanitation Mohammad Nazir Sheikh and Additional Secretary RDD attended the meeting.

The Minister reviewed district wise performance and took stock of physical and financial achievements under the central and state schemes.

He sought details about number of registered Job card holders, person days generated, progress made towards water conservation and sanitation, achievements under PMAY-G, convergence of MGNREGA with schemes of other departments.

Reviewing the physical status under MGNREGA, the Minister was informed that a total of 108683 laborers have been registered till March 2018 of which 75380 were provided job cards.

It was further informed that 21165 works were completed in the year 2015-16, 2299 during 2016-17 and 4222 taken up in the year 2017-18.

Veeri stressed upon the concerned officers to ensure 100 percent distribution of job cards to the registered workers and seeding of Aadhaar with their bank accounts for online transfer of wages.

Veeri said that RDD has direct linkage with the people of rural areas and various schemes/programmes are specially designed for their betterment.

“We can transform the rural sector only if taken keen interest in discharging our duties towards development of people and will also be able to change the socio-economic profile and developmental landscape of the rural areas,” he said.

Laying focus on the convergence of schemes of different departments to pool the resources, Veeri asked the DCs to make a convergence plan in coordination with Rural Development department in which the Labour component would be provided by the RDD.

He asked them to construct play grounds at block levels, community sanitary complex in or near schools, hospitals, tourist spots and along the National Highway under rural sanitation schemes.

Reviewing the status of PMAY-G, the Minister asked Deputy Commissioners to complete the process of preparing fresh list of homeless population so that the same can be submitted to the central government for seeking funds.

He also directed to verify all the PMAY cases on time so that the installments could be released well in time.

A threadbare discussion was also held on issues related to achieving ODF status, ODF verification process, Geo Tagging under SBM, status of pendency of IHHL units and achievements made under SBM.

The Minister emphasized on the officers to work in mission mode and meet timelines fixed for their respective districts. He called upon the districts lagging behind to make a determined push to achieve the target.

The Minister further asked all the DCs to make their respective district ODF by August 2018.

Veeri exhorted upon the Rural Development functionaries to create durable assets while providing ensured employment to the rural poor households. He said that they can be engaged for works including construction of foot bridges, roads, water harvesting tanks, micro irrigation, land development, Panchayat Ghars, renovation of traditional water bodies and others.

The Minister directed the concerned authorities to maintain and document the record of assets created by the department in the shape of a booklet.