Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik recently held a State Administrative Council (SAC) meeting, and decided to expedite all pending projects. Funds for the Jumbo Zoo Project in Nagrota were released and an announcement for revamping of “panchayat ghars” into Digital Village Centres (DVC) was also made. In order to boost the youth’s potential at the village level, these DVCs will have facilities like smart LEDs, computers, internet and will be developed as “one stop service centres” with wi-fi hotspots, telemedicine, agricultural support services, digital payments and other G2C/B2C services.
This project has been proposed following the success of the recently concluded “Back to Village” programme and will be implemented by the Jammu and Kashmir e-Governance Agency. This project has been implemented on a pilot basis in 44 villages across the state with the initial cost of Rs 5 crore.
Governor Malik has directed the administration to complete the first phase of the project within six months. In another major SAC decision, Governor Malik has sanctioned the planting of 50 lakh saplings under the Green Jammu and Kashmir scheme. The first phase of this green drive will commence from 8 July, and eventually around 9 lakh trees will be planted over 2,300 hectares of land. The long-pending zoo project at Nagrota received a forward push as the Governor sanctioned Rs 62,41 crore for it and asked the project to be completed by December 2020.a