A CORRESPONDENT
DIBRUGARH: The District Development and Monitoring Committee Meeting (DISHA) was held at the conference hall of the DC office Dibrugarh under the chairmanship of Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Labour and Employment Rameshwar Teli on Saturday.
The MLAs of Dibrugarh district, Prasanta Phukan ( Dibrugarh), Ponakan Baruah (Chabua) and Binod Hazarika (Lahowal) along with the Deputy Commissioner of Dibrugarh, Biswajit Pegu were present in the meeting. Officers, employees, representatives of various government departments were present in the seven-hour long meeting which was held to discuss the development of the district. The Union Minister emphasized basically on the development and welfare of the tea garden workers, not only through financial upgradation but also through their health care.
In the beginning of the meeting, the MGNREGA scheme was discussed thoroughly with all the BDOs. BDO Barbaruah informed that the labour budget had exceeded and when the target was about 17 lakhs, it reached about 28 lakhs.
Dibrugarh MLA Prasanta Phukan confirmed about the progression of registration of e-shram card and Aadhar card with the BDOs to which they replied that the tea estate workers are basically the deprived people and most of them are unable to produce valid documents which refrains them from Aadhar registration. In this regard, the MLA said that the Chief Minister had already suggested a substitution of Aadhar, which is like a semi provision to fulfill the requirement.
The Aadhar in-charge too mentioned the same obstacles and said that a photo identity card is required and there is a provision to submit a filled-up format signed by a gazetted officer in the absence of valid documents.
The DDC asked the officers to accelerate the Aadhar enrollment process in the tea garden areas by creating awareness. The Minister, MLAs along with the DDC suggested the BDOs to identify specific locations to put up special camps for Aadhar enrollment to fulfill the Aadhar registration of the entirety population.
The BDOs were again instructed to emphasize enrollment of e-Shram cards for job card holders by holding meetings basically at the Panchayat level. The 14th and 15th Finance Commission Schemes progress was discussed with the Zila Parishad officers. The Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension (IGNOAP), Shahid Kushal Kowar Sarbagini Old Age Pension Scheme, Indira Gandhi Widow Pension Scheme, Indira Gandhi National Dibanga Pension Scheme etc. were discussed in the meeting.
For PWD ( Building), the progression of some project works, namely Moran Sports Complex, under NLCPR fund, Moran Super Market, construction of Multi Disciplinary Sports Complex at Khanikar, 350-bedded boys' hostel at AMCH and Dr Sarita Toshniwal Ladies Hostel Building at AMCH were thoroughly discussed in the meeting.
The School Inspector was asked about the construction works of all the model schools of tea estates, namely Chabua, Sepon, Namsaang, Mukulbari, Bhitar, Naharkatiya and Kaloni. The SI informed about the lack of proper kitchens and pure drinking water.
In the case of the DICC department (District Industries and Commerce Centres), the minister asked the officers about the problems of the people residing in the tea gardens in opening bank accounts and suggested that the LDM should extend necessary help. Another major issue that was discussed in the meeting was about opening ATMs in the tea garden areas.
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