2 Spiti villages to be made 'vibrant'

Tribune News Service

Dipender Manta

Mandi, December 29

Two villages near the China border in tribal district of Lahaul and Spiti — Gue and Lalung — have been selected under the Vibrant Villages Programme (VVP) by the Central Government for development purpose.

Admn collects data on public requirements

• An exercise by the Kaza admn to collect necessary data on the development requirements of people in these villages has been initiated
• A panel — officials of Tourism, Art and Culture, Education, Jal Shakti, Health and other depts — will conduct a survey of these villages

An exercise by the Kaza administration to collect necessary data on the development requirements of people in these villages has been initiated. A committee has been formed, comprising officials of Tourism, Art and Culture, Education, Jal Shakti, Health and other departments to conduct a survey of these villages to assess the necessary requirements of villagers. A detailed report of the survey would be submitted to the Centre within a month for further action.

Talking to The Tribune, Kaza ADC Abhishek Verma said a DGP-rank officer of the Centre and a Director-level officer of the Textile Ministry had conducted a survey in Spiti valley to select the border villages in this district under the programme.

The ADC said earlier, of the 13 gram panchayats of the Spiti valley, 12 were selected under the Border Area Development Programme (BADP). The administration had requested the Centre to include the one which was left.

“In a majority of states or districts, only one border village was selected under the programme. However, Lahaul and Spiti is the only district of which two villages have been selected under the programme to provide necessary development and infrastructure to stop migration of people out of the border villages,” he said.

The Finance Minister had announced the programme in her Budget speech this year. The programme envisages coverage of border villages on the Northern border having sparse population, limited connectivity and infrastructure, which are often deprived of development projects. Convergence of existing schemes is proposed under the VVP.

The Centre is implementing the BADP through the state governments/UT administrations in habitations located within 0 to 10 km from the first habitation at the International Border in 460 border blocks of 117 border districts in 16 states and two UTs. These include Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, J&K (UT) and Ladakh (UT).

Under the BADP, annual action plans of the states/UTs consisting of works related to village infrastructure such as roads and bridges, health, education, agriculture, sports, drinking water and sanitation etc. are considered and approved as per the BADP guidelines.