Minister S.B. Subedi issued strict directives to the Engineering Cell for timely completion of all pending works

Gangtok, 19 December: Minister for RM&DD and Panchayati Raj Mr S.B. Subedi chaired a departmental coordination meeting of the Rural Management & Development Department here at Janta Bhawan, Gangtok, on 17^th December, 2016. The meeting was graced by Parliamentary Secretary RM&DD Mr Sonam Dadul Bhutia and Secretary RM&DD Mr D.R. Nepal, along with Chief Engineer RM&DD, Additional Secretary (Adm), Director Panchayat, Additional Secretary (MGNREGA), all ADCs (Dev), DPOs, BDOs, Engineers from the level of AE and above, and officers of the Deputy Secretary and equivalent and above from the Head Office and the Districts.

The meeting was convened primarily to review all the rural development programmes under the department in the last quarter and to issue directives for efficient functioning of each section of the Department to consolidate the progress made so far.

Each sectional head  made power point presentations covering the administrative progress, progress in Panchayati Raj, MGNREGA, SBM(G), PMGSY, Bridges and RWSS.

The presentations were followed by an open house deliberation, wherein wide range of issues were discussed threadbare.

After lending a patient hearing to the officers, Minister Mr Subedi in his address stressed on timely submission of the Utilisation Certificates by the GPUs and suggested room for improvement. He directed that all the utilization certificates submitted by the GPUs have to be signed by the concerned Panchayat President and countersigned by the concerned BDO. Further, the fund being transferred to the GPUs need to be duly intimated to the districts and the blocks. Details of all the assets belonging to the Department are to be submitted at the earliest, he added. The Minister further directed that case to case details of the stalled houses under CMRHM/IAY and REDRH are to be submitted by the BDOs by 26^th December 2016, so that the Department may address the problems for their delay in progress and complete them on time. The Minister issued strict directives to the Engineering Cell for timely completion of all pending works. He stressed that highest priority should be laid on ensuring qualitative work and follow up of projects through frequent field visits of the work sites.

Secretary RM&DD Mr D.R. Nepal in his address exhorted the officers of the Department to work with utmost sincerity to ensure zero gap in service delivery in the rural areas. He stressed on the need to shed lackadaisical attitude and urged the engineers and field officers to work with a sense of ownership and service.

Referring to the recent directive of the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Secretary Nepal directed all the Block Development Officers to convene special gram sabhas under the respective GPUs to adequately sensitize the rural public on the cashless system and ensure a smooth transition towards cashless transaction.  He urged the officers to offer their services in this regard to realise the vision of the Hon’ble Chief Minister to ensure that Sikkim becomes the first state to transition into a cashless digital economy.

The meeting concluded with vote of thanks proposed by Deputy Secretary MGNREGA.