NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday held a high-level review meeting to assess the progress made in the implementation of the ‘Vibrant Border Villages Programme’.
During the deliberations, he stressed the need to provide employment opportunities to residents as well as enhanced connectivity to prevent them from migrating from the settlements, officials said.
In the meeting the Home Minister also emphasised that the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Army, deployed in and around the border villages, should encourage the purchase of local agricultural and handicraft products through cooperatives, the officials said.
Shah asked the armed forces to ensure that the local populace also received the same medical facilities, that are available to them in those remote villages, they added.
The Home Minister encouraged the officials present at the meeting to encourage maximum use of renewable energy sources like solar energy and windmills in the vibrant villages, the officials noted.
The officials further added that he directed to “continue the efforts being made by senior ministers and officials to better understand the issues of border villages under the Vibrant Villages Programme”.
Later in a statement the MHA said, “So far, more than 6,000 events have been organised in these border villages, which include about 4,000 service delivery and awareness camps. More than 600 projects have been sanctioned by the Central government for employment generation in these villages.”
During the meeting, the Home Minister laid special emphasis on “review at the highest level at regular intervals to dispose of pending issues”.
The meeting was attended by senior officers of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs including the Union Home Secretary, Secretary, Border Management and Director General, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).
Under the ‘Vibrant Villages Programme’ scheme, 136 border villages are being provided connectivity through 113 all-weather road projects at a cost of Rs 2,420 crore.
The MHA in the statement said, “4G connectivity is being worked on rapidly in these areas and by December 2024, all villages under the Vibrant Villages Programme will be covered by the 4G network. Appropriate steps are being taken to ensure financial inclusion in all these villages and India Post-Payment Banks (IPPB) branches are also being facilitated there.”
It said, “Work is being done to develop tourist circuits to bring vibrancy to these villages and promote tourism. In this endeavour, capacity building and tourism-related infrastructure is being developed in coordination with the Ministry of Tourism.”
Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this important and ambitious scheme was launched on February 14, 2023, with an allocation of Rs 4,800 crore, the MHA said.