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| Sluggish work exposes Govt callousness | | Jammu airport expansion project misses another deadline | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Oct 3: The expansion of Jammu airport project has missed yet another deadline, reflecting the callousness of successive regimes towards the winter capital's development.
The airport expansion missed the September 2015 deadline after having already missed several such deadlines in the past.
As per the agreement between the Army and the state Government for the expansion of the airport, 140 kanals of land falling under Army Cantonment area had to be vacated. The Army was provided alternative land at Sunjwan. But the shifting of vital army installations to the new site could not be completed in time due to some misunderstanding between the two parties.
Sources in the administration said had the Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh called a meeting to resolve the deadlock, the work could have been completed in time.
"Deputy Chief Minister was supposed to hold review meeting of such projects to ensure that the deadlines are met. But he and other elected representatives from the region have failed to do so," said a senior official.
As of now, the deadlock on airport expansion has been resolved on the personal intervention of Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed who recently held a meeting with Army in Srinagar. Sources said though the meeting with Army was about Kashmir related developments, Mufti on priority picked up the matter of Jammu airport.
"Mufti was told that the Jammu airport work has missed another deadline and he at once got the matter resolved with Army on priority," said a source privy to the meeting.
Sources said now that the matter has been resolved, the Deputy Chief Minister is likely to take a review meeting to "gear up work" on airport expansion only to show that he has been keen on "timely developments in Jammu."
"What is the fun of his review meeting now when the deadline has been missed and CM has personally intervened," asked a senior official.
According to aviation experts, the standard size of an airstrip is 9,000 feet, while in Jammu it is mere 6,000 odd feet. The runway is smaller than the requisite length-by around 3000 feet-making the landing and takeoff difficult all the times. This space deficit creates problems for the flight take off and landing when the pilot has to put in "extra efforts to control the aircraft."
Earlier this year, Governor NN Vohra conveyed to the central government his apprehensions of "avoidable accidents" in the prevalent circumstances.
Situated 14 kilometers from the international border between India and Pakistan, the Jammu airport also known as the Satwari Airport offers no more than primitive services to the fliers.
Though this airport caters to around nine lakh passengers annually, successive regimes have failed to upgrade it on modern lines.
Observers said the airport neglect affects tourism in the winter capital, which is famous as City of Temples.
Jammu dominates pilgrimage tourism in the state. The cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi alone attracts over one crore pilgrims annually from far and wide of the country and beyond. But the airport is unable to meet the regional needs. |
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