*People of Doda celebrates 73rd Republic Day with great gusto, national enthusiasm* _Chairman DDC Doda, Dhananter Singh Kotwal unfurls tricolour, inspects guard of honour_

Doda, January 26:

The 73rd Republic Day was today celebrated with great enthusiasm, fervour and national spirit at Sports Stadium Doda wherein the Chief Guest, Chairman District Development Council Doda, Sh Dhananter Singh Kotwal unfurled the tricolour and took salute of the march past of contingents from JKP, CRPF, SSB, JKAP, JKP, FPF, NCC Jr, NCC senior, Home Guard and scores of students from GDC Doda besides 

various schools of the district.

 

Vice Chairperson DDC Sangeeta Rani Bhagat, Deputy Commissioner Doda Vikas Sharma, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Doda Abdul Qayoom, President MC Doda Ved Prakash Gupta, DDC members, ADC Doda Dr R K Bharti, Principal GMC Doda, Commandant IRP 6th Btln Sanjeev Khajuria, ASP Doda Master Popsy, besides other senior officers from civil and police administration, Army, CRPF, IRP, BSF, elected members of MC Doda, PRI, prominent citizens, social workers, political activisits and numbers of men, women and children were present on the occasion.

 

Speaking at the occasion, the Chairman DDC Doda, Sh Dhananter Singh Kotwal highlighted the importance of Republic Day and stated that it is the most significant day in the history of India as on this day the law of the land, the constitution of India came into force after prolonged struggle and we became a Republic nation. 

 

This was a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. He further stressed the people of Doda to work with togetherness for promoting national integration, communal harmony and peace in the district.

 

 

During his speech, he counted numerous developmental projects and works undertaken in the district and informed about various measures taken by the UT Govt and district administration for the overall development of the district.

 

At the ourset he said that in the memory of our local Martyrs, various educational institutions have been named after their names which is a great step taken by the UT and district administration to pay a rich homage to the Martyr’s who have laid down their precious lives in the line of the duty for the mother land, besides said that in the upcoming time all the local martyrs shall get the same dignified respect.

 

While speaking about the developmental process he stated that Covid-19 initially was a great threat which could have slowed down the developmental works but due to the efforts of our beloved PM Sh Narendra Modi series of steps were taken in which the invention of the vaccine was one of the most significant development one. Our district has significantly achieved the target of the both doses of Covid-19 vaccination above 18 years and in the age group of 15 to 18 it is ongoing, besides said that precautionary booster dose is also been given to the concerned age group and frontline functionaries.

 

He said that like the other counterpart districts, the developmental scenario has also gained huge push in Doda district in the recent past the best example of which is the recent ranking of District Good Governance index in which our Doda district has achieved the second rank across the UT, besides said that after the abrogation of article 370 and section 35 A under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi the three tier Panchayati Raj system came into existence for the first time across the UT.

 

With regard to the other milestones of developmental initiatives the DDC Chairman said that recently Union Minister Roads and Transport inaugrated the National highway project, besides assured the public of the district that in the upcoming days two important national highway links will be started to strengthen the inter state link namely Bani Basoli Doda and Chamba Bhaderwah.

 

He also informed the gathering that during his recent meeting with Hon’ble LG UT of J&K he has demanded full fledged University for erstwhile Doda, besides requested him to showcase all the tourist locations on the tourism map so that unemployed youth of the district shall get employment opportunities for their livelihood.

 

With regard to District Capex for the year 2021-22 approximately 760 crore of budget had been finalized in which around 22323 works were identified and around 14297 were the new works among them, out of which around 3170 have been completed at the tune of 278 crore expenditure till now.

 

Under social welfare sector the DDC Chairman said that around 62851 BPL families have been give free ration under PMGKAY, besides the labour department has given around 5.62 crore directly to 17777 labourers and till now around 70028 labourers have been registered under e shram scheme.

 

Under PM-KISSAN 50222 farmers have been given 6000 rupees per annum till now, and around 167.72 crore amount as loan has been credited in favour of 61989 farmers under KCC scheme.

 

In addition to this he said that around 221778 beneficiaries have been registered under Ayushman Bharat PM-JAY SEHAT scheme out of which around 221580 Golden Cards have been sanctioned, besides under ujjwala scheme approximately 52434 households have been provided free gas cylinders and stoves.

 

Under MGNREGA 11412 works were identified against which more than 35 lakhs PDs have been generated till now, around 7594 PMAY houses are targeted to be completed by the end of this financial year, out of which 2871 houses are completed, besides around 5000 new cases have been approved under Awass plus.

 

With regard to employment generation scheme under PMEGP around 962 self employment cases have been sanctioned, and under Missing Youth Mumkin scheme 63 youths have been provided with load carriers through subsidy and around 178 women entrepreneurs are going to get the benefits under Tejaswini scheme, besides said that under Mission Youth 237 youth clubs have been constituted at Panchayat level and gazzeted level Officials have been nominated as mentors for these youth clubs by the district administration.

 

During his speech he also counted the achievements of Social Welfare department, horticulture, floriculture, PWD, PMGSY and Animal Husbandry department and said that these departments through their progressive mindset have also immensely contributed in the Developmental progress of the district.

 

He said that in the recent past the Animal Husbandry department have adopted Dali Udhyanpur Village as Milk village which is going to prove as the best suitable measure to improve the income of the dairy farmers, besides under lavender and marigold cultivation the farmers have also got a great success in terms of income generation across the district.

 

While concluding his speech he appealed all the general public of the district to come forward and to take maximum benefits of the govt schemes and urged them to extend full cooperation to the Administration for the overall development of the district.

 

Main attractions of Republic Day celebrations at Sports Stadium Doda were Display of Tableaus, performance by the JK Academy of Art Culture and Languages, besides other eye-catching performances of school students.

 

Later, DDC Chairman,Vice Chairperson, Deputy Commissioner Doda, SSP Doda, distributed trophies among students for outstanding performances in cultural items and parades, etc.

 

Similar function was reported from Bhaderwah, where BDC Chairperson Omi Chand unfurled the National Flag. Besides the Republic Day celebrations were also reported from Subdivision headquarters of Assar, Thathri, Gandoh, tehsil headquarters, other District offices and educational institutions where tricolour was unfurled and cultural programmes were held.