SRINAGAR – Taking a step forward to make cities of the UT more sustainable, structured for optimum resource utilization and sensitive & supportive towards the marginalized sections of the society, Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha today e-launched City Livelihood Centre (CLC), Jammu and laid e-foundation of Rs 80 Crore worth Integrated Solid Waste Management facility at Kot-Bhalwal, Jammu.
Speaking on the occasion, the Lt Governor remarked that “There is a deep link between economic development and urbanization. The growth and expansion of cities not only contributes more to the GDP, but is also the engine of our progress. Therefore, the way urban population is increasing; new measures will have to be taken to deliver facilities to them.”
The strength of any city is measured by its economic prosperity and the power behind it comes from connectivity, environment, workers group, waste management, culture etc. We have to make all the big cities of Jammu and Kashmir competitive, while effectively managing them, besides securing the livelihood of the people. The two new projects are the important steps taken in this direction, added the Lt Governor.
“I believe that we have to explore multiple factors for effectively managing our cities in the coming times so that we can move towards developing Quality Cites, People’s Cities and bring Jammu and Srinagar in top 30 Non-Metro Cities of the country”, said the Lt Governor.
Highlighting the key features of the newly inaugurated City Livelihood Centre, the Lt Governor observed that the new intervention is aimed at strengthening National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) Outcomes by unleashing the capabilities of marginalized sections of the society living in urban areas to generate meaningful and sustainable livelihood.
“Cities need to be structured and developed in such a way that it should provide an ecosystem to facilitate the marginalized to channelize their skills, support their livelihoods and enable them to lead a dignified life in the society”, the Lt Governor asserted.
Formation and functioning of CLC, a specialized skill centre is the extension of Government’s efforts for reaching out to the people in need providing sustainable source of income through vocational training and business development support under single roof, the Lt Governor added.
Underscoring a host of features of the City Livelihood Centre and how it will extend handholding to the targeted beneficiaries, the Lt Governor said that the new centre will help in finding a viable market for goods produces by the members of Self Help Groups; providing business information and support services to the poor as and when needed by them, besides creating an understanding of the market by studying the needs of demand and supply chain of the market.
It will also act as information dissemination centre with respect to skill training, bank credit, social security benefits, besides providing space and other necessary facilities to the institutions imparting skill trainings through designing skill training programmes/conducting seminars/ holding meetings with training providers and training seekers, he added.
The chair was informed that the CLC shall be set up as permanent service providing centre offering a gamut of services to all residents of the area by engaging local urban poor for generating sustainable livelihood.
The Centre, initiated by Jammu Urban Development Agency and Housing (JUDA) of Urban Development Department (H&UDD) will also extend support assistance required to access bank loans; preparation of project proposals, registration of business units and legal help etc.; providing market linked information to prospective and existing micro enterprises; assistance to new micro enterprises for obtaining license and registration; Supply of skilled manpower to city dwellers as per their demand.
Meanwhile, the Lt Governor also laid the e-foundation of Rs 80 Crore worth Integrated Solid Waste Management facility at Kot-Bhalwal, in collaboration with NAFED.
The project will be very useful for the city of Jammu and will contribute significantly towards achieving the goals of Swachh Bharat Mission of the UT, said the Lt Governor.
Waste Management Plan is key component for developing sustainable cities. There is a need to implement waste management plan, sewage treatment, and biodigester as a mandatory rule in all upcoming colonies. Expansion of cities while taking care of the ecology needs to be an integral part of our development process, maintained the Lt Governor.
The Lt Governor directed the officials to explore all possibilities to establish a similar Integrated Solid Waste Management facility in Srinagar also.
He also instructed the JMC functionaries to conduct a 15 day long campaign ‘Plastic Free Jammu; Say No to Plastic’ to curb the use of single-use plastic.
The Lt Governor also asked MD NAFED, Sh. SK Chadha and officials to ensure 100% recycling of inert waste, besides ensuring that all the objectives of the projects that have been planned to be implemented on ground for visible impact.
The upcoming Integrated Solid Waste Management Project shall have a Capacity of 350 TPD including major components viz. Segregation of mixed waste that will be done by machine scientifically in dry and wet stream; Segregation of dry waste at Material Recovery Facility to recover any useful material; a Bio-CNG plant that will produce Bio CNG gas through the wet waste, besides a Sanitary Landfill, where final rejects including sanitation waste will be scientifically dumped.
Sh. Rajeev Rai Bhatnagar, Advisor to the Lt Governor, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta, Chief Secretary; Sh. Dheeraj Gupta, Principal Secretary, H&UDD; Sh. Nitishwar Kumar, Principal Secretary to Lt Governor; Ms. Deepika Rana, CEO JUDA; senior officers of Housing and Urban Development Department(H&UDD) were present on the occasion at Civil Secretariat.
Sh. Chander Mohan Gupta, Mayor Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) and Ms. Avny Lavasa, Commissioner JMC attended the launching ceremony through virtual mode.
