Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi on Tuesday stressed the need for sticking to NITI Aayog guidelines for Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the State.
The Chief Secretary, in a meeting here, directed Development Commissioner R Balakrishnan and Planning and Co-ordination Department to set targets with measurable indicators indicating the present status of projects being implemented in the State.
“The departments were asked to submit the required information against each goal and target,” said Padhi. He added that discussions were held along the lines suggested by the NITI Aayog.
“In general 17 SDGs and 169 targets were suggested and deliberated. These included issues related to poverty reduction, food, health, education, women development, water availability, energy for all, inclusive economic growth, resilient infrastructure, reduction of inequality, development of human habitations and actions to deal with climate change,” Padhi said.
He added that conservation and sustainable use of marine and terrestrial ecosystems and developing accountable institutional framework for faster implementation of SDGs also figured in the meeting.
According to official sources, the NITI Aayog has proposed to hold one interactive session with Chief Secretaries of various States and Union Territories on SDGs.
CEO NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant has written to all the Chief Secretaries inviting them for an interactive meeting on institutional mechanism and monitoring of SDG. The session is likely to be held during the month of May.
Principal Secretary, Energy Rajesh Verma, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Arati Ahuja, Principal Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management Mona Sharma, Secretary, Panchayati Raj DK Singh, Secretary, Handloom and Textiles Chithra Arumugam along with other senior officers of various departments participated in deliberations.