EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Dec 18: It is official now. Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha has taken serious note of the whooping Rs Eighty thousand crore developmental package announced by Prime Minister Modi in November 2015 for various developmental works in Jammu and Kashmir.
On December 17, as per reports, LG Sinha chaired a high level meeting in which he expressed serious concern over the dilatory mode of functioning and how the important developmental package was being undermined and left unimplemented.
Chief Secretary B. V. R. Subrahmanyam, Financial Commissioner (Finance) Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner (Health) Atal Dulloo, Principal Secretary to Lt Governor Nitishwar Kumar, Administrative Secretaries of various departments besides senior officers from NHAI, BRO, Jal Shakti, PWD, PDD, Tourism, Horticulture, etc. were present in the meeting.
Meanwhile, as per the official documents in possession of Early Times, out of the Rs Eighty thousand crore package of the Prime Minister, an estimated Rs 42,668 crores were kept for R&B projects in Jammu and Kashmir. Out of the sum, Rs 2700 crores were kept for Bharat Mala project. The projects in the state were proposed to be taken up under Bharat Mala for length of about 105 Kms covered under tourist connectivity.
However, the official apathy and dilatory mode of functioning has made the project almost a flop show in the state with most of the highways yet to be connected and work on expansion of some crucial highways yet to begin.
As per reports, there are several highways that have missed the completion deadlines including the crucial widening of Srinagar-Baramulla-Uri Highway. The work, as per the officials, is going on at a very slow pace, hindering the overall project and rendering the money issued under PM’s developmental package as useless.
It is being feared that the money would get lapsed if the department continues to miss the deadlines one after the other. There is absolutely no seriousness being shown towards fast pacing the work on construction of new highways and expansion of the existing ones, sources privy to the scenario divulged.
Officials stated that the much awaited projects are getting delayed due to various bottlenecks including land acquisition, compensation issues and shifting of religious structures and public utilities.
As per the documents, out of the 80K crore package, the government had claimed that Rs 1400 crore were proposed for construction of semi ring road in Jammu, Rs 2700 crore for projects proposed to be taken up under Bharat Mala for length of about 105 Kms covered under tourist connectivity, Rs 130 crore for construction of double lane and Batote-Kishtwar-Sinthanpass-Anantnag (NH-IB, now NH-244), Rs 1800 crore for Srinagar-Shopian-Quazigund (2-Lane PS+Major Bridges), Rs 5100 crore for Jammu-Akhnoor-Poonch (2 Lane PS/4 Lane), Rs. 2100 crore for Chennani-Sudhmahadev-Goha including 3.0 km long tunnel (2 Lane PS), Rs. 4153 crore for Pakal Dul project subject to environmental clearance. |
