news details |
|
|
| Modern abattoir a dream for Jammu | | |
SANT KUMAR SHARMA
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, May 17: The Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) plans to set up a modern abattoir are unlikely to come true for a long time. The Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, has already shot down the proposal for the abattoir at Khanpur in Nagrota.
The modern and sophisticated abattoir would have cost a whopping Rs 22 crore and was sanctioned as part of the Prime Minister's Reconstruction Plan (PMRP) for Jammu & Kashmir.
Former legislator Sadiq Ali is reported to have played the spoilsport and derailed the JMC plans for abattoir at Nagrota. He gave sound reasons for not setting it up at Nagrota and the Chief Minister agreed with the veteran's suggestions.
Sadiq Ali was part of the empowered committee which vets proposals for diversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes. The committee is headed by chief secretary of the state and includes top bureaucrats from important ministries.
Senior forest ministry officials like the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (PCCF), Chief Conservator of the area where the forest land is to be diverted and Divisional Forest Officers (DFOs) are also a part of this committee.
Environmentalists and subject experts, besides leading non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are also part of the committee. Such committees are now the norm, not an exception, all across the country.
These committees have been set up the states as per the directions of the Supreme Court in the famous TS Godavarman case. The case had led to wide-spread changes in the manner in which the forests are being administered.
The Godavaraman case is virtually the holy grail or bible of the forest authorities in India today. Unfortunately, however, copies of the judgment and commentaries by expert environmental lawyers have not been provided to the forest staff in the state, till date.
There are very few officers in the department who are reasonably well versed with the judgment or its implications. As such, when confronted by other departments, particularly officers of the higher rank, the forest department officials develop cold feet and backtrack.
In July last year, the cabinet had okayed the proposal to set up the abattoir at Nagrota. Subsequently, the JMC authorities deployed some machinery to clear an identified 40-kanal forest area.
The then DFO of the area, Shahid Iqbal, halted the JMC work and quoted the law of the land as enunciated by the Supreme Court to prove his point. He had pointed out that the JMC needed to apply to the forest department and follow laid-down procedures.
It was as a part of the procedures that the abattoir proposal reached the empowered committee. And Sadiq Ali's sound reasoning against the use of forest land won the day.
Much earlier, the JMC had proposed the abattoir to be set up at Bhagwati Nagar. However, the venue was dropped as it was located close to the facilities created by Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) for the pilgrims.
For now, the JMC has to start from the scratch as it were. It has to find suitable land afresh and then go the whole hog.
Senior JMC officials expressed dismay at the undue delay in the setting up of the abattoir but expressed helplessness. Some of them said that it had taken them a lot of time and effort to identify the land at Nagrota.
A lot of work was done by the forest department and JMC authorities in tandem to work out the details of compensatory afforestation and such other things. However, for now, all their work has come to a nought.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
