Ambiguity over ownership of project causes further delays
Suhail Bhat
Srinagar, Apr 20: The Government seems to have abandoned its prestigious project of setting up an International Trade Centre (ITC) in South Kashmir’s Pampore as there are no headways in the project even after the passage of 15 long years.
Fate of the project is such that no department owes it and the departments which were entrusted with the responsibility to execute the project have feigned ignorance about it. An official at the Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation, which was executing the project, said initially the project was marred by the lack of funds. Now, he said, the project is no longer with them and they have handed it over to the Industries and Commerce department.
The Industries and Commerce department, however, refused to own the project. “The project is with Handicrafts Department,” an official said.
Contrary to the claims of the Industries and Commerce department, an official at the Handicrafts department said that the project is not with them and they have handed over the land to the Industries and Commerce department.
Amid this ambiguity, the locals alleged that unwillingness on the part of the Government to complete the projects initiated by their predecessors was the main reason behind the abandonment of the project. “Almost 15 years have passed since its foundation stone was laid but there has been no headway in the project so far,” said a local businessman, Mushtaq Ahmad.
In 2005, the then Government embarked on an ambitious project of setting up International Trade Centre in Pampore town of South Kashmir and identified a sprawling 378 Kanals of land. The project was expected to provide impetus to the imbecile business setup of Kashmir by boosting the trading activities and was believed to accumulate all major business firms and corporate offices at one place.
The idea was to expose local traders and trades – handicraft items and agricultural products like Saffron – to international markets. In 2007, then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad along with then Union Minister of Trade and Commerce, Jairam Ramesh, laid the foundation stone of ITC at Pampore with a grant of Rs 29 crores to the project.
The locals of Pampore, also called Saffron Town, blamed successive Governments for not showing seriousness towards ITC construction. “It would have given international exposure to our trade. Right now we have to sell it to the dealers in Delhi or Bengaluru who then sell it in the international market,” Manzoor Ahmad, a Saffron exporter, said. In the case of ITC, Manzoor said the farmers would have been able to sell their produce directly to the international customers without any intermediate person, which could fetch them more money and boost their morale.
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