Poonch: The District Development Commissioner Mohammad Aijaz Asad along with a team of District and Sectoral Officers convened public meeting here at Dak Bungalow Surankote to redress development related issues and discuss development plan with the locals.
The team of officers comprises ACD Mukhtar Ahmed, SDM Surankote Mohs Rahsid Kohli, DPO Mazahar Hussain Kazmi, Executive engineers of PWD, PHE, PMGSY and I & FC, CMO Mumtaz Hussain Bhatti, CEO Mushtaq Ahmad, Tehsildar Shahid Iqbal and other officers of district and sub-divisional administration.
Locals raised several developmental issues and other grievances of their area and urged the administration for prompt redressal. They demanded augmentation of water and power supply, availability of ration and cooking gas, renovation of roads, restoration of damaged irrigation canals, adequate staff in sub district hospital, improvement in the functioning of Surankote Municipal Committee, streamlining education sector and change of school timing.
The specific demands raised included establishment of Fruit Mandi at Surankote, blacktopping of Bafliaz-Surankote Dundak Mandir-Mehrote roads, installation of hand pumps in the town, clearance of Khanetar to Lasana road, Anganwari centres and ration Depots in far off area and development of playground at Surankote.
The DDC assured that all their grievances will be addressed and genuine demands met in a time bound manner. He also directed for change of school timing to 9.00 AM to 3.00 PM.
The DDC called upon the public to participate in developmental process with active participation in plan formulation and keeping a vigil on execution of works and implementation of schemes. He also directed the officers to conduct extensive field visits and finalise developmental plans in due consultation with public so that benefits entailed in these projects percolate to real beneficiaries.
District administration Poonch has also decided to hold Gram Sabhas in 189 Panchayats of the district on May 14, 2018. The decision has been taken to maximise public participation in development plan formulation.