DMs of all districts in Delhi to spend a night in villages, hold talks

District magistrates of all 11 districts in Delhi will spend the night in villages on Sunday, hold consultations with residents and chalk out development work plans, officials said here.

The exercise will be undertaken on the direction of Delhi Lieutenant Governor (LG) V K Saxena, they said on Saturday.

The LG has also asked all departments to "depute senior officers for one night stay" for a ground assessment of challenges and socio-economic conditions faced by people living in villages, with a view to comprehensively develop villages, they said.

These officers will give a practical prescription for all-round development and "mainstreaming of villages", the officials said.

Based on their report, a village development plan should incorporate all their focused activities for infrastructure development, economic activities promotion, and creating linkages for marketing of village products, they added.

The Lt Governor has directed that the preliminary plan, prepared by the DMs in collaboration with line departments, shall be "consolidated based on the assessment of deputed senior officers, which should be finalised within two weeks", the officials said.

After a 'Samvaad @Raj Niwas' dialogue initiative with representatives from 180 villages earlier this month, the LG announced that DMs will be spending a night in the villages in their respective districts, according to Raj Niwas officials.

Accordingly, the district magistrates will reach the villages on January 7 morning and spend the night there as well.

During the stay, the officials will hold 'Samvaad' sessions with residents of the areas and neighbourhood villages, and prepare a plan to be implemented by the executing agency Delhi Development Authority (DDA), they said.

The exercise is aimed at chalking out a restoration and development plan for Delhi's villages, in consultation with the people living there, under the ambitious 'Dilli Gramoday Abhiyan', being executed by the DDA at a cost of more than Rs 800 crore, the Raj Niwas officials said.

The Delhi LG is also the chairman of the DDA.

The selected villages in the 11 districts include Baprola (West Delhi district); Tatesar Rural (North West Delhi district); Fatehpur Beri (South Delhi district); Chilla Saroda Bangar (East Delhi district); and Palla (North District).

On the day of their visit, the DMs will hold 'Samvaad' with residents of the villages as well as those in the neighbourhood over the first three hours starting at 11 am.

From 3-6 pm, they will be visiting important sites for inspection according to the work identified during the preceding 'Samvaad' along with all officers concerned of various departments, the officials added.

From 6-7 pm, the DM will hold a 'Charcha' with them around a bonfire and ask the villagers to share their grievances and feedback.

After day-long engagements, the DMs will retire for the night in their identified villages, and will again resume the second round of 'Samvaad' from 7-11 am the next day to share the tentative road map for the development plans, the officials said.

Continuing with his interactive dialogue series 'Samvaad @Raj Niwas', Saxena interacted with over 500 villagers representing 180 villages in the national capital on January 2, they said.

The first-of-its-kind engagement with the villagers at Raj Niwas was aimed at seeking suggestions and ideas to chalk out a comprehensive plan of action for the development of Delhi's villages.

The LG has also directed for expanding the coverage of NCC in schools to inculcate values of nation-building, the officials said.