*Review of BRAP progress
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 24: Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo convened a meeting with the Housing & Urban Development Department (H&UDD) to evaluate the household survey to be conducted in collaboration with the Planning Development & Monitoring Department. The objective of the survey is to identify houseless individuals in Jammu and Kashmir.
Attendees included the Commissioner Secretary of H&UDD, Secretary of Planning, Director General of E&S, Managing Director of the Housing Board, Senior Information Officer of NIC, and other relevant officials.
The survey aims to provide detailed insights into eligible individuals who may benefit from housing units under various initiatives, including the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban) 2.0 PMAY (U) in the Union Territory.
During the meeting, the Chief Secretary urged the department to develop comprehensive guidelines for identifying eligible houseless individuals. He recommended that these guidelines be shared with all Deputy Commissioners in advance to facilitate effective monitoring. He also directed that the manpower requirements for conducting this survey in urban areas be determined and emphasized that teachers should be exempted from this responsibility due to the upcoming school openings in March and ongoing board examinations for secondary and higher secondary students.
The Chief Secretary requested that the survey be completed within March to enable timely identification and compilation of a merit list ahead of the established deadline. He sought input from the Deputy Commissioners regarding timelines for the completion of this task and discussed necessary updates with BISAG-N to modify the existing YUVA survey app for this new exercise.
Commissioner Secretary H&UDD, Mandeep Kaur, provided details on the importance of conducting this survey digitally, similar to the YUVA survey, across all Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in Jammu and Kashmir.
In a separate session, the Chief Secretary led a high-level meeting with administrative heads from relevant departments to monitor the adoption of reforms proposed under the Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) 2024, which aims to improve the Ease of Doing Business (EODB) in the Union Territory.
Stressing the importance of these reforms, the Chief Secretary instructed all departments to ensure comprehensive compliance. He highlighted that each reform is vital for streamlining business operations and fostering a favorable business environment in Jammu and Kashmir. He urged departments to accelerate their implementation efforts to meet the March 15, 2024 deadline.
Furthermore, he instructed the Industries & Commerce Department, the primary agency for BRAP execution, to provide necessary support to all departments for the effective deployment of these reforms. He also emphasized the importance of timely documentation of these reforms on the BARP national portal by the March 15 deadline.
