Our Correspondent
Mokokchung, Aug. 16 (EMN): Minister of Rural Development, Metsubo Jamir, on Tuesday appealed the village council members and village development board (VDB) secretaries to fill job card with genuine beneficiaries and do away with bogus cards so that benefits reach the targeted people and uplift the village economy.
The stated this during inauguration of the Mokokchung District VDBs’ Association (MDVDBA) building at Dilong Ward in Mokokchung town.
The minister lamented that job card holders living in other cities are receiving benefits without spending working days for the village.
The minister informed that the department would soon embark on a job card verification drive by bringing in transparency and accountability through direct benefit transfer, where there will be no involvement of VDBs and others to the benefits.
The minister also informed that a situation has come up for the department to take up only income generation activities since road and footpaths have reached almost all the corners of the villages in the state. In this regard, he urged the village councils to concentrate on income generation activities.
While expressing concerned on the sharp decline of population in the villages due to migration to towns and cities, he observed that migration could be mitigated if the village councils could ease the transportation hindrance faced by villagers to return to the village in the evening after their task for the day is completed.
The minister stated that the department was ready to facilitate the village councils in availing loans from banks to purchase buses so that manual labourers and other people engaged in other activities could return to the village after completing their day’s work.
Jamir advised the VDB secretaries to perform better in their work so that their successors would emulate them to do better. He further added that the department is planning to distribute laptops to all the VDB to ease the workload.
Short speeches were delivered by Shanshank Pratap Singh, DC of Mokokchung, and Tekachiba Longchar, chairman of Sungratsu village council Sungratsu.
In another programme, Metsubo Jamir inaugurated the Mongsenbai ward community hall-cum-multipurpose building in the presence of NLA Speaker, Sharingain Longkumer, and other important dignitaries in Mokokchung on August 16.
Stating that there is no more space for extension of roads in Mokokchung town, Jamir advised the members of All Ward Union Mokokchung Town and respective ward authorities to start proper town planning so that the developmental process is not paralysed because of congestion.
Dwelling on the Pradan Mantri Jan Vikas Karyakram (PMJVK) scheme, he stated that it is a centrally sponsored scheme under the ministry, whereby the proposed projects are approved only if it complied with the guidelines.
Meanwhile, he informed that the proposed projects from different towns and villages in the district have been collected under the scheme. He added that the district level committee would examine the feasibility of the projects and forward to the state level committee for further examination.
Sharingain Longkumer, who was the guest of honour, acknowledged the contribution made by legislators representing the Mokokchung town constituency starting from his father and former minister Nungshizenba, former minister C Apok Jamir, and incumbent minister Metsubo Jamir and all the well-wishers who have contributed to come up with a magnificent building.