Advisor to Lieutenant Governor, Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar on Thursday held a whirlwind tour of Kathua district and inspected various ongoing development works besides reviewing the district development profile.While inspecting the ongoing work of a 200 bedded additional building in Associated Hospital of GMC Kathua, the Advisor directed the executing agencies to hand over two floors of the multi-storey building so that augmented capacity can be utilised to provide health services. The Advisor also visited Government Medical College Kathua where he took a comprehensive review of the ongoing civil works of the remaining portion of Medical College besides taking stock of facilities being given to the medical students residing in the hostel of GMC Kathua.At Government ITI Kathua, the Advisor took first hand appraisal of training being imparted to the students in different trades viz. Phulkari art, automotive technology, CBT Lab etc. He also interacted with the students and enquired about their aspirations after passing out from the institute.The Advisor directed XEN PWD(R&B) to expedite the ongoing works and ensure time bound completion of all the worksWhile giving the details of steps being taken to revamp the skill development sector, the Advisor said that the existing curriculum of ITI and Polytechnic colleges is being overhauled to meet the market demands and mapping the skill set with the job profile of the industry.During the visit, Advisor Bhatnagar also chaired a meeting of all district officers in the conference hall of the DC office complex here.At the outset, DC Kathua, Rahul Pandey gave a detailed account of district development profile which was followed by department wise review, wherein the concerned officers apprised the Advisor about the issues and problems being faced by them.After giving patient hearing to all the issues raised during the meeting, the advisor assured that the genuine issues will be resolved at appropriate levels and directed the concerned officers to put in their best efforts for accomplishing the outcomes of the deliverables.The Advisor emphasized on the need for rationalization of staff of school education department to meet up the staff shortage and to focus on learning outcome for which government is making all out efforts. He called for laying special attention on pre-primary and middle school education as they require serious approach to mould the budding brains.While highlighting the issue of drug menace in Kathua, Advisor Bhatnagar called upon civil and police administration to work in tandem to weed out the menace from the district.Later, the Advisor accompanied by ADC Kathua, Chief Project Officer, National Seed Farms Kathua, Gopal Krishan, AD Fisheries Pawan Sharma and other district officers visited National Fish Seed Farm wherein he enquired about the species being cultured, status of seed production and activities undertaken by the department.It was given out that the Department of Fisheries has taken up regular stocking of fish seed in Ranjit Sagar Dam reservoir which inturn has resulted in generating income to the tune of Rs 1.21 Cr annually. Besides the advisor was also apprised about stocking of fish seed in community ponds at panchayat level which has led to handsome income generation for the PRIs which can be used for development of panchayats.
