Delhi Lieutenant Governor(LG)Vinai Kumar Saxena on Saturday here launched the “Dilli Gramodaya Abhiyan’ an ambitious campaign for the development of urbanised villages of the Capital, from Jaunti Village in North-West Delhi. The campaign has an earmarked amount of more than Rs 800 crores.
Giving details here, officials the campaign will be funded and implemented by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA), under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs.
The funds will be utilized for creation and up gradation of basic infrastructure, livelihoods, scientific livestock management, healthcare, proper land use and water management among others. The campaign aims at bringing about a qualitative change in the landscape and livelihood of the hitherto neglected, urbanized villages in the city.
The campaign was launched with commencement of works for Delhi’s first grazing ground in Jaunti Village, on a 7-acre plot meant to provide fodder to nearly 4000 livestock in Jaunti and adjoining villages as well as providing the locality with an open green space free of encroachment.
A water body adjoining the grazing ground will also be cleaned, dredged, deepened and rejuvenated within a week. The grazing ground will have a water channel on its periphery to ensure rainwater harvesting and groundwater recharge. Saplings of Moringa and nutritious grasses like Napier grass were also planted by the LG on the grazing ground.
Speaking on the occasion, Saxena said this first experiment with a grazing ground in the Capital will ensure that the stray cattle moving on roads, eating from garbage dumps and suffering due to malnutrition and accidents will get a proper eco system for their sustenance.
He said this ground will provide healthy food to the cattle that, in turn, will also provide healthy dairy products. At the same time, it would also prevent traffic chaos and road accidents due to presence of stray cattle on the roads.
Saxena instructed that the land should be levelled properly so that even the animals would not have any problem in reaching to the grazing ground and the nearby pond.
Launching the program, the LG sat on steering of a tractor and ploughed a stretch of land and also sat on a JCB vehicle guiding, the workmen in pruning the trees and clearing the waste.
Saxena said the Rs. 800 Cr. fund for village development in Delhi, which was never utilized in the past years, will now be used for development of these villages. The fund has been transferred to the DDA, following the transfer of Gram Sabha Land as per extant regulations and policy decisions.
Saxena, who has adopted Jaunti as one of the four villages for developing as model villages said that same effort would be made to make all villages self-sustainable and gave the example of neighbouring Qutabgarh Village, where lot of infrastructure development projects are being undertaken and a stadium is on the verge of completion.
The LG recalled that after his visit on October 3, to the Jaunti Village, lot of initiatives have been taken during the last 02 months and more works were in the pipeline. He appreciated that youngsters particularly wrestlers, who have shown promising achievements by winning accolades in various championships.
The LG said the funds from the DDA should be utilized fully for the overall development of the villages in the National Capital. Special emphasis will be given on healthcare facilities.
Under the ‘Dilli Gramodaya Abhiyan,’ urbanized villages will be provided with essential amenities to improve the living conditions in these villages. Under this Campaign, an Action Plan will be prepared for each village in consultation with the villagers to transform the quality of basic infrastructure, civic services, health and sports services, horticultural upgrade and water management.
It may be noted that earlier the LG had undertaken the development of 05 villages as model villages in the North-West Delhi, namely Qutabgarh, Nizampur, Rawta, Deorala and Jaunti.
Qutabgarh village was adopted as a model village in February, 2023 and in the last 10 months, the village has seen development in all sectors. The developments include rejuvenation of water-bodies, renovation of parks, community centres/PanchayatGhars, repair of DJB pipelines, upgradation of MCD dispensary to polyclinic, creation of model Anganwadi, implementation of government schemes through special camps etc.
A sports complex is also being built in Qutabgarh by the DDA and will have facilities for cricket, badminton, volley ball, wrestling etc. The stadium is expected to be completed in a month.
On receiving positive response from the villagers on the on-going development works in Qutabgarh, a similar model village development plan was also initiated for NizampurRashidpur and Jaunti in July, 2023.
