news details |
|
|
| J&K Govt leaves Jammu traders, business houses in lurch; heritage project goes missing | | Train Reaching Katra | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, June 25: With Indian Railways set to commission the much-awaited train service to Katra, the base camp of Mata Vaishno Devi shrine; state Government has left business community of Jammu worried and anxious about their future.
The community which anticipates slump in business once the train goes directly to Katra and thereafter, reaches Srinagar in the years to come, has been waiting for the Government to come up with some concrete proposal for saving the city from losing the relevance it has today. The project to beautify Jammu city and convert it into a heritage center has been seemingly long forgotten.
What has increased trauma of business community is that neither BJP nor any other party has so far bothered to even raise a meek voice against this alleged serious neglect of the state Government. Barring beautifying Raghunath Bazaar and renovating Mubarak Mandi complex, state Government is yet to come up with a comprehensive proposal of addressing infrastructural and other requirements of the city of temples and ensure that it has enough locations where pilgrims would visit.
A half-hearted attempt was made to turn Raghunath Bazaar into heritage Bazaar but it failed miserably. Those who have shops in the market maintain that whatever little was done in the market reflected that either the planners were not serious or the state Government wanted to merely withdrawn bills. These shopkeepers maintain that the Government failed to give this market the shape that it deserved.
Mubarak Mandi complex is being renovated since last more than 8 years but the project is going on at snail's pace. Besides, those who have been entrusted with the job of renovating the complex have preferred to remain confined to renovation and left out the cleaning of the entire complex so that tourists could see the structure in whatever form it exists today. Even the portion which has withstood test of time and is rock solid has been left untouched with garbage littering around.
The Toshakhana which is in itself of historic importance and has enough beauty to attract tourists too has been kept away from the public eye. A visit to the complex explains in great depth the non-seriousness with which Jammu is looked at by those at the helm of affairs. Those manning the complex do not bother to even take you around and show you the magnificence of this historic fort. The door from the Chowk Chabutra side is in shambles and closing it again remains a dream.
No effort is being made to ensure that the door could be closed and pristine glory of the Mubarak Mandi complex restored. Leave this complex aside, a ropeway project has been proposed from Peerkho near Mubarak Mandi to Mahamaya and other from Mahamaya to Shahabad in Bahu Fort. This project is being installed at an express pace but observers maintain that the project has been proposed seemingly without proper application of mind and for pure political reasons.
Ropeway has been proposed over an area where it is illogical to even imagine cable car functioning during summer season since these cars are without any air-conditioning facility. Limiting the service to winter season would mean serious loss of revenue. Yet the state Government for purely political reasons and with elections in mind has begun work on the ropeway project at an alarming pace.
It needs to be mentioned here that the project has been delayed since it was conceived by Farooq Abdullah Government in 1996. The project was to be constructed on a BOT (build, operate and transfer) basis, in which the state Government had to provide the land and private parties had to raise the infrastructure, operate it for 30 years or so and then transfer it back to Jammu and Kashmir.
Barring these projects, state Government had proposed to construct a lake over river Tawi but the project is likely to take another year or so. Ask for the reason and you would be told about financial and other constraints. With Indian Rail now reaching Katra, business community has started debating its impact on Jammu and begun asking about reasons for Government's sombre silence. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
