17 STATES, 111 DISTRICTS Border population is strategic asset to the country: Union home minister Rajnath Singh
Each of them to be equipped with primary health centre, primary education & connectivity

The Centre has decided to develop 61 model villages in the 17 states adjoining international border, equipping each of them with basic facilities such as primary health centre, primary education and connectivity.

The decision to upgrade infrastructure in these villages spread over 111 border districts was taken at a meeting on Thursday. It was chaired by Union home minister Rajnath Singh and attended by both ministers of state for home, home secretary and senior representatives from the 17 states.

“For comprehensive and all-round development of border villages, it has been decided to develop 61 model villages for which ₹126 crore has been released to the state governments,” the home ministry said in a statement after the meeting on the Border Area Development Programme (BADP).

“Additional funds will also be made available as per requirement. Each model village will provide all basic facilities like primary health centre, primary education, community centre, connectivity, drainage, drinking water, etc, to enable sustainable living in border areas,” it said.

The government had increased the total outlay under this programme to ₹1,100 crore in 2017-18 from ₹990 crore in 2015-16.

During his interaction with field and state-level officers implementing the BADP, Singh said “the border population is strategic asset to the country and important element to maintain border security and that all out efforts must be made to improve social and economic infrastructure to ensure that these people continue to live in border villages”.

The minister also launched the BADP Online Management System for better planning, monitoring and implementation of various projects under the programme. Now bordering states can submit their respective annual action plans online and receive approvals from the home ministry in electronic mode. This will bring in transparency in the sanction process and improve quality of planning and implementation, the ministry said. Presentations were given by Arunachal Pradesh, J&K , Tripura, UP and West Bengal on the implementation of BADP.

Courtesy: Times Group: 13072018