The newly-appointedDirector School Education, Dr. G N Itoo, chaired a meeting of officers of the department here today. All Chief Education Officers of Kashmir, Principals of all the ten District Institutes of Education & Training institutes, Principal State Institute of Education Srinagar and all the staff officers were present in the meeting.

During the meeting, the school heads were asked to ensure keeping of close liaison with civil society and parents and that such meetings should be held twice a month in order that conducive atmosphere is created for smooth functioning of schools in the larger interests of the student community. The Director also stressed on giving due importance to co-curricular and sports activities in schools.

The Director emphasized that there be no pendency of files and that accountability is ensured at all levels. He also said that field officers should be empowered to deal with local issues so that issues do not get piled up.

Itoo said that the real objective of all steps and decisions is to make schools real hubs of knowledge in order to make our students top achievers by providing them quality education.

Deputations from several areas of Kashmir Valley met the Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti in Srinagar today and sought resolution of the issues confronting them.

A deputation of Ziyarat Committee, Hazrat Syed sahib (RA), Sonwar demanded completion of all renovation works at the shrine and the mosque besides early completion of ablution spots. They also sought resolution of the parking problem for the devotees coming to the shrine and mosque.

Another deputation from Shalimar sought rationalization of the notified areas under LAWDA in the area. They also sought allowing reconstructions in areas which fall beyond the mandatory limits of no construction zones.

Deputations from Fatehgarh, Aishmuqam and Dialgam areas of Anantnag also met the Chief Minister and apprised her of their day to day problems.

Legislators, Saiffudin Bhat, Surinder Choudhary and Iqbal Manhas also called on the Chief Minister and brought many issues of their areas into her notice.

The Chief Minister listened to the demands put forth with her and assured them that appropriate action would be taken to mitigate the same.

Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti conducted a surprise visit of various areas of Srinagar city late last night to take an on the spot appraisal of the various services delivered by concerned Departments to the city dwellers and to check the on ground presence of these Departments in these areas.

The Chief Minister specifically checked the availability and status of power supply, functioning of street lights, cleanliness of lanes, drainage facilities in low lying areas and other civic amenities being provided to people.

During her surprise visit despite hail and heavy downpour, the Chief Minister visited Dalgate, Boulevard, Nishat, Hazratbal, Nigeen, Kathidarwaza, Zindashah Masjid, Rainawari, Khanyar, Nawpora, Khayam Chowk, Munawarabad, TRC, Lal Chowk, Maharaja Bazar, Jawahar Nagar, Rajbagh and Sonwar and personally checked the availability of power supply to the people living in these areas. She also checked the status of sanitation, drainage and street lighting during the two hour late night inspection of these city areas.

Soon after the surprise visit, the Chief Minister convened a meeting of senior officers dealing with city administration.

During the meeting, Mehbooba Mufti expressed dismay over the poor service delivery of civic amenities in some areas. She also expressed her displeasure over the non-functioning of street lights in many areas and directed urgent repairing of the damaged street lights and installation of high mast lights at major junctions or chowks and busy areas. She also directed regular and routine cleaning of drains, roads and lanes in the city and proper dumping of the waste.

The Chief Minister categorically directed the concerned   officers to improve the level of civic amenities and other facilities provided by the Government in these areas. She directed the Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar to conduct regular visits to city areas to check that the services are delivered to people both quantitatively and qualitatively.

Mehbooba Mufti told the officers that she would be conducting such surprise visits in future also both in city and other urban areas, particularly the areas from where she receives complaints of poor or slow delivery of public services.

Divisional  Commissioner, Kashmir, Baseer Ahmad Khan; Inspector General of Police, Kashmir zone; SJM Gillani; Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, Dr Farooq Ahmad Lone; Vice Chairman, SDA, Tehseen Mustafa; Chief Engineer, PDD, Shahnaz Goni; Commissioner, SMC, Dr Shafqat Khan and other officers were present in the meeting.

According to the Principal DIET Shopian, all the heads of Middle, High, and Higher Secondary Schools of the district are informed to register their schools and upload student nominations on INSPIRE-MANAK portal (www.inspireawards-dst.gov.in) by May 8, 2017.

The Principal said that disciplinary action will be initiated against the schools who fail to upload the nominations for the programme by the said date.

According to the Executive Engineer, Electric Division II Srinagar, areas which receive power supply from the Peerbagh receiving station will remain affected on April 15 and16 from 10.30 am to 5 pm.

He said the power supply will remain affected in order to execute the works related to the ongoing RAPDRP-B Scheme.