Last Updated on December 20, 2020 at 11:08 am
Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir Manoj Sinha is closely monitoring Rs Eighty thousand crore developmental package announced by Prime Minister Modi in November 2015 for various developmental works in the region. It was reported that on December 17, LG Sinha called for a high-level meeting in which he expressed serious concern over the slow functioning and lazy behaviour of officials regarding such an important project.
There were many officials with important portfolios were present in the meeting like Financial Commissioner (Finance) Arun Kumar Mehta, Financial Commissioner (Health) Atal Dulloo, Principal Secretary to Lt Governor Nitishwar Kumar, Chief Secretary B. V. R. Subrahmanyam, Administrative Secretaries of various departments and senior officers from BRO, Jal Shakti, PWD, NHAI, Tourism, PDD, Horticulture, etc.
Out of the Rs Eighty thousand crore package by the Prime Minister, approximately Rs 42,668 crores were dedicated for R&B projects in the UT. Out of this sum, Rs 2700 crores were kept for Bharat Mala project. Under Bharat Mala project, about 105 Kms of distance was to be covered for tourist connectivity. However, inefficiency of the officilas has made the project almost a flop show as most of the highways are yet to be connected and expansion of some crucial highways has not even started.
There are many highways which have missed the completion deadlines including the important expansion of Srinagar-Baramulla-Uri Highway. This project is moving forward with a snail’s pace. There are apprehensions that the money might get lapsed if the department continues to miss the deadlines one after the other. Sources say that there is absolutely no seriousness being shown towards finishing the project within deadlines.
Officials stated that these projects are getting delayed because of various bottlenecks including land acquisition, compensation issues and shifting of religious structures and public utilities.
Out of the 80K crore package, the government has diverted money for:
- Rs 2700 crore for Bharat Mala project with a length of about 105 kms covered under tourist connectivity
- 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 crores for Pakal Dul project
- Rs 1400 crore for construction of semiring road in Jammu
- Rs 130 crore for construction of double lane and Batote-Kishtwar-Sinthanpass-Anantnag (NH-IB, now NH-244)
