Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Secretary Tribal Affairs, Anvy Lavasa, called on Minister for Jal Shakti, Forest, Ecology and Environment and Tribal Affairs, Javed Ahmed Rana, at the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar, in a meeting that brought the department’s leadership together to review ongoing efforts around tribal welfare across Jammu and Kashmir.
Lavasa was recently assigned additional charge of the Tribal Affairs Department, and the meeting served as an early opportunity for the Secretary and Minister to align on departmental priorities. During the discussion, the two reviewed key issues concerning the department and examined ongoing initiatives aimed at strengthening the welfare, development and socio-economic empowerment of tribal communities across the Union Territory, an area that continues to draw sustained policy attention given the distinct developmental challenges faced by Gujjar, Bakarwal and other tribal populations spread across J&K’s hill and forest belts.
Rana extended his best wishes to Lavasa on assuming the additional charge, expressing confidence that her administrative experience would further strengthen the department’s efforts toward the overall development of tribal communities in Jammu and Kashmir. The Minister’s remarks reflected a broader emphasis within the government on ensuring administrative continuity and experienced leadership at the helm of departments handling welfare delivery for some of the Union Territory’s more geographically dispersed and historically underserved communities.
Following the meeting with the Secretary, Rana went on to meet several deputations at the Civil Secretariat, hearing their grievances and demands across a range of issues. He assured the visiting deputations that all genuine issues raised would be examined and addressed on priority, a commitment consistent with the government’s broader public engagement approach of using ministerial visits to the Secretariat as direct channels for grievance redressal rather than routing every concern through formal departmental correspondence alone.
Rana reiterated that the timely resolution of public grievances remains a key priority of the government, and directed the concerned officers present to ensure prompt action on the issues brought to their notice during the interactions. The directive underscored a recurring theme in the Minister’s public engagements, namely an emphasis on accountability and swift follow up at the officer level once grievances have been formally registered, rather than allowing concerns to languish in bureaucratic processing.
The Civil Secretariat meetings, spanning both the review with the Tribal Affairs Secretary and the subsequent grievance hearings with deputations, reflect the dual nature of the Minister’s day to day responsibilities, balancing departmental policy oversight with direct public accessibility, an approach that has become a recurring feature of ministerial functioning in the current J&K government.
