NEW DELHI — Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday stressed the need to provide employment opportunities to residents of border villages and increase connectivity to prevent migration from such remote areas.
Reviewing the implementation of the "Vibrant Villages Programme" (VVP) at a high-level meeting here, Shah directed all concerned to continue the efforts being made by senior ministers and officials to better understand the issues of border villages under the special initiative taken by the central government.
During the meeting, the home minister said the Narendra Modi government is committed to the all-round development of the border villages.
He stressed on the need to provide employment opportunities to local residents and increase connectivity with villages to prevent migration from these border villages, according to an official statement.
Shah said central armed police forces and Army deployed around the border villages should encourage purchase of local agricultural and handicraft products through cooperatives.
He said the healthcare facilities of the Army and central armed police forces should be regularly made available to benefit the residents of nearby villages.
The home minister stressed upon maximum use of solar energy and other renewable sources of energy like windmills etc.
So far, more than 6,000 events have been organised in these border villages, which include about 4000 service delivery and awareness camps.
More than 600 projects have been sanctioned by the central government for employment generation in these villages.
The home minister laid special emphasis on review at the highest level at regular intervals to dispose of pending issues.
Under the VVP, 136 border villages are being provided connectivity through 113 all-weather road projects at a cost of Rs 2,420 crore.
Mobile 4G connectivity is being worked on rapidly in these areas and by December, all villages under the VVP will be covered by the 4G network, the statement said.
Appropriate steps are being taken to ensure financial inclusion in all these villages and India post-payment banks are also being facilitated there.
Work is being done to develop tourist circuits to bring vibrancy to these select villages and promote tourism.
In this endeavour, capacity building and tourism related infrastructure is being developed in coordination with the Ministry of Tourism.
This ambitious scheme was launched on February 14, 2023 with an allocation of Rs 4800 crore.
Saturday's meeting was attended by senior officers of the Ministry of Home Affairs besides Director General of Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Rahul Rasgotra.