Srinagar: Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman today inaugurated Rs 130.49 crore worth projects pertaining to Health, Education, Urban infrastructure and disaster management, here today.
She also laid the foundation stone for Union Territory (UT) Level Emergency Operation Centre, and Supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) building at Budgam, Kashmir, amounting to Rs 34.88 crore under the Jhelum and Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP).
The sub-projects are part of the Jhelum and Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP) which is assisted by a credit of $250 million from the World Bank. The project was started in Jammu and Kashmir in the aftermath of the devastating floods of September 2014 which severely affected low lying areas of Anantnag, Srinagar and adjoining districts causing immense damage to housing, livelihoods and roads and bridges. It has been under implementation by Government of J&K as part of the Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP) for J&K since its effective date of April 19, 2016. The project aims at both restoring essential services disrupted by the floods and improving the design standard and practices to increase resilience.
The high social impact of JTFRP was felt in the COVID-19 pandemic response wherein an amount of $50 million was allocated and utilized by activating the Contingency Emergency Response Component (CERC) under the project. Medical equipment worth Rs. 290 crore and 30 oxygen generating plants at a total cost of Rs. 75 crore were procured then to cope with the challenges posed by the pandemic.
Besides under JTFRP many artisan clusters were developed with an objective of reviving the traditional crafts and providing gainful employment opportunities to youth.
One major recent achievement of the project has been the enlistment of Srinagar city in the UNESCO world creative cities network. Srinagar became one of the 49 cities worldwide to join the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) under the Craft and Folk Arts category.
– global bihari bureau
