Second phase of 'Back to Village' prog commences across JK

The second phase of the 'Back to Village' (B2V2) outreach programme, aimed to provide governance at doorsteps of the rural populace, started in Jammu and Kashmir on Monday. The week-long public outreach campaign will be more intense than the earlier phase as it shall mainly focus on empowering panchayats, follow up of B2V1, 100 per cent coverage of beneficiary oriented schemes and doubling income of rural people by giving more impetus to the rural economy, an official spokesman said.

The programme will see more than 5000 gazetted officers and 657 UT and Directorate Level officers visit their assigned panchayats to receive first-hand appraisal reports at the grass root level about developmental work. The officers shall prepare a report card and critical gap analysis at the end of their 2-day visit to a village on a pre-circulated format, the spokesman said.

The lieutenant governor, advisors, chief secretary and other senior officers will be visiting various panchayats in both the Kashmir and Jammu divisions between November 25 and November 30. One of the primary objectives of the B2V2 assists panchayats when they face impediments in using funds allocated for development based on local priorities to further strengthen grassroots democracy and participatory development.

The programme will also assess the progress of resolution of priority issues of a panchayat for which Rs 5 Crore have already been released to each district, spokesman said. Emphasis will also be laid on creating awareness in the apple districts of the Kashmir division during the programme about the special market intervention price scheme for procurement of the fruit, he said.

Every department has been assigned a specific role and frontline workers of each department shall proactively participate in this unique effort to energize panchayats to realize a total transformation in the rural profile, spokesman said. The week-long activity will primarily witness government-public interactions, inaugurations of development works, awareness programmes on welfare schemes and effects of Single-use plastic, convening of Gram Sabhas, public grievances redressal camps besides seeking public suggestions and feedback.

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