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| 14 months on, Pahalgam Master Plan awaits implementation | | Local group writes to Chief Justice, seeks intervention | | Saahil Suhail
Early Times Report
Anantnag, Nov 6: Despite cabinet headed by late Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed approving the revised master plan for Pahalgam, Tourism department hasn't yet issued a gazette notification for its implementation till date.
Fumed over the deliberate delay, Pahalgam residents and activists are accusing top Tourism officials of delaying implementation of revised Pahalgam Master Plan-2032 for benefiting rich.
An official posted in Town Planning Organization, who was assigned the task of drafting Pahalgam Master Plan, told Early Times that they submitted the final master plan of Pahalgam to tourism department for the approval of the cabinet on 13th of August in 2015. He said that on 7th of November in the same, Cabinet headed by late Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed approved it vide Government Order No. 320 of TSM 2015 dated 11/09/2015.
"The Master Plan was later submitted to Jammu and Kashmir High Court which reviewed it and agreed to the revised master plan in principle however asked Tourism Department to furnish the Khasra details of the land falling in those zones shown as green belt in the master plan," the officer said.
He said that since then the Tourism department hasn't submitted the Khasra numbers and related details to the High Court.
Chief Executive Officer, Pahalgam Development Authority Mushtaq Ahmad Simani told Early Times that Pahalgam Development Authority has submitted all the Khasra numbers of the land falling in green zones to tourism department. "I don't know the actual date but we have submitted the details," he said.
Secretary Tourism department, Farooq Ahmad Shah when contacted refused to comment over the issue saying matter is in the court.
A group of locals, have also written to Chief Justice of J&K High Court and sought his intervention in the matter.
Fumed over the delay, local residents said that firstly it took the authorities at least five years to finalize the draft master plan and to subsequently submit it to the government. Now when the Master Plan stands approved, they have been deliberately delaying its implementation for the last fourteen months. The delay, he said, seems "intentional" so as to "benefit some influential people who have occupied forest land and are trying to grab more forest land under grab of 60-C gazette issued by the former Maharaja in 1944, however forest department continues to term the gazette invalid.
"We don't have surrendered any forest land under 60-c gazette. 1965 demarcation no such gazette has been mentioned how will surrender the land or allow people to occupy prime forest land after 72 years," an official of the Forest department said.
Shabir Ahmad Khawaja, a forest officer deputed in Pahalgam told Early Times that they foiled a land grabbing attempt on Sunday as well. "Foiling land grabbing attempts is our routine matter. People mostly influential every day try to grab the land at Pahalgam," he said.
In 2010, the High Court, responding to the public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Pahalgam Welfare Association, imposed a blanket ban on all constructions and repairs in Pahalgam area.
And in 2011, the court observed that the 2005-2025 Master Plan was full of flaws, and directed the authorities to revise it.
The government constituted a four-member committee for framing the draft master plan, keeping in view the ecological sensitivity of the area.
After being reprimanded by the court for delay in finalizing the plan, the authorities, in 2014, made the draft public. It asked the public, particularly the stakeholders, for suggestions and objections.
The authorities assured the locals in presence of then-MLA Pahalgam that all their suggestions would be taken care of. They also assured that there would be no scope left in the new master plan for further vandalizing the environment. The draft was to be finalized with a few months.
Finally, in September last year, the cabinet, chaired by then-chie minister Mufti Mohammad Syed, approved the revised master plan titled 'Pahalgam 2032'. However, the wait for its implementation seems nearing no end. |
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