Officials told to expedite development

For the first time in Gadchiroli's history, secretaries of many departments and the chief secretary (CS) himself, were together at the district headquarters on Saturday to review developmental schemes.

CS J K Banthia chaired the four-hour meeting and issued directions to the officials to expedite the developmental activities and display "result-oriented" administration.

Among the most important directions was one to get the road works executed through gram panchayats. The CS was informed that contractors were not ready to work in some Naxal-affected parts, a senior official said.

As many as 89 villages of 250-500 population are not connected by roads in the district.

Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh had first floated the idea of road works being given to gram panchayats. Banthia also directed the Mahavitaran officials to provide electricity water pumps at over 1,500 newly built wells. For electrification of villages, he directed that Forest Conservation Act clearances be given fast, the official said.

There are a lot of buildings like that of ITIs, police infrastructure, hostels and ashram schools that are waiting to be completed. The CS directed that they be completed early.

Another issue to come up was the lack of infrastructure for storage of paddy procured by the government. Banthia said space must be identified and secured to create the infrastructure to store the paddy.

The secretaries, split in two groups, toured sensitive Dhanora and Kurkheda tehsils too. The CS led the one that visited Dhanora.

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