DCs are drivers of their districts: CM

PASIGHAT, 20 Dec: Chief Minister Pema Khandu termed deputy commissioners (DC) the “drivers” of their respective districts “who can either drive the district to prosperity or doomsday.”

Khandu said that the fate of a district and its people depends upon the ability and the sincerity of its deputy commissioner.

Chairing the 10th e-Pragati review meeting with the administrative heads of all the districts of the state here in East Siang district on Monday, the chief minister urged the DCs to conduct monthly e-Pragati review meetings at the district level and work on the issues taken up at the state level e-Pragati meetings.

“Taking into account your action taken reports, I have to present a cumulative action taken report of the state in our bimonthly review meetings taken by the prime minister,” he said.

Khandu reminded the DCs of the Pakke Declaration adopted by the state government, which envisages a multi-sectoral approach towards low emission and climate resilient development through five broad themes, or the panch dharas – environment, forest and climate change; health and wellbeing of all; sustainable and adaptive living; livelihoods and opportunities; and evidence generation and collaborative action.

“These rest on 75 strategies, including protecting forest cover, restoring degraded forests, reducing health vulnerability due to climate change and extreme weather conditions, developing

master plans for all urban areas reflective of local climate change induced risks, adopting efficient irrigation measures and promoting entrepreneurship,” he said.

Asserting that Arunachal can significantly contribute towards the fulfillment of the targets within the contribution of India in pursuance of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, and considering the forest and natural resources that the state possesses, Khandu asked the DCs to “work on it in their respective districts.”

He also spoke on two important schemes launched by the central government – Svamitva and Svanidhi – that need urgent push by the state government.

While the Svamitva scheme is a reformative step towards establishment of clear ownership of property in rural inhabited areas by mapping of land parcels using drone technology and providing ‘record of rights’ to village household owners, Svanidhi aims to provide affordable working capital loan to street vendors to resume their livelihoods that have been adversely affected due to the Covid-19 lockdowns.

Though the process of providing land rights to the people is still in a nascent stage in Arunachal, Khandu said that the state government expects its administrative officers, along with the elected representatives to come out with a solution to implement the scheme.

“We all have to work together to implement these schemes, and I have full confidence in our deputy commissioners. Successful implementation of Svanidhi entirely depends upon you,” he said.

The chief minister expressed hope that in the next e-Pragati meeting the deputy commissioners will be ready with their action taken reports on all issues raised and discussed in the meeting.

Other agendas discussed in the meeting included Ayushman Bharat, Jal Jeevan Mission, Mission Shiksha, land acquisition matters, the National Horticulture Mission, the one-district one-product scheme, and PMGSY I & II. (CM’s PR Cell)