*Serious errors create road-block in finalization of Master Plan
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Nov 13: Estab-lishing that in Jammu and Kashmir announcements about new projects are made without any ground work, several vital projects announced for the Patnitop-Sanasar areas about one and half year back with the objective to attract more tourists are still confined to the papers and nobody in the Tourism Department is in a position to specify any time-frame for these announcements becoming reality in near future.
Moreover, the developmental activities in these major hill resorts of Jammu region are still being governed by the 20-year old and outmoded Master Plan because the exercise towards having new vision document could not reach the logical conclusion due to errors on the part of Patnitop Development Authority and a Hyderabad-based consultancy firm.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that while chairing the Board of Directors meeting of Patnitop Development Authority on June 14, 2015, the then Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had announced several vital projects for Patnitop-Sanasar areas in order to attract more tourists to these hill resorts. He had even directed all the concerned authorities including Tourism Department and Patnitop Development Authority to immediately initiate process for formulation of Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) so that these projects could become reality in a time-bound manner.
The major decisions included electric train from Patnitop to Batote, Amusement Park on Sanasar-Patnitop road, water sports activities in reservoir of Baglihar Hydroelectric Project at Chanderkote, health and wellness tourism project at Patnitop, helipad on Sanasar road and above all expeditious completion of all formalities for notification of new Master Plan for Patnitop.
However, despite lapse of one and half year, major projects have remained confined to the papers and even Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for the same have not been prepared because of varied reasons, sources said, adding though these decisions had allured the common masses yet even at present the authorities of the Tourism Department as well as those of Patnitop Development Authority are unable to specify any time-frame for these projects to become reality.
As far as electric train is concerned, sources said, “during the course of discussion it was felt by the concerned authorities that instead of electric train some modern buses will be introduced for the tourists but thereafter no exercise was conducted”, adding “now it is said that this announcement will be taken into consideration while submitting plans to the Union Tourism Minister for the next financial year”.
Similarly, the announcement about Amusement Park has remained confined to the official files as Patnitop Development Authority doesn’t have required chunk of land on Sanasar road for this facility, sources said, adding “the land which was initially proposed for the Amusement Park is in the possession of nomads and unless the State Government removes the illegal occupants and formally transfers the land to the PDA no step can be taken for establishment of park”.
“The land related issue has also created road-block in setting up of helipad at Patnitop, which was also announced by the then Chief Minister”, sources said while disclosing that Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had found it appropriate to have helipad to operate chopper services for high-end tourists. “The translation of this announcement into reality also depends upon the swiftness of the Udhampur district administration in making available suitable land”, they added.
However, sources said that positive development has taken place with regard to health and wellness project and water sports activities as basic exercise in this regard has been completed by the Tourism Department and Patnitop Development Authority. “But, it is difficult to specify any time-frame for these facilities to formally come up for the tourists”, they added.
What to talk of making substantial progress on all the announcements during the past one and half year, the Government has even failed to come up with new Master Plan for Patnitop to ensure its planned development mainly because of errors on the part of Patnitop Development Authority and Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology University (CEPT), Hyderabad, which was entrusted the task of formulating Master Plan.
According to the sources, the agreement between Patnitop Development Authority and CEPT was signed on September 17, 2011 for preparation of new Master Plan and after several years long exercise the draft of the Master Plan was put in the public domain for inviting objections and suggestions last year.
However, during the course of inviting objections and suggestions it came to the fore that Khasra Numbers of the land proposed for different activities were not mentioned in the draft of the Master Plan as neither Patnitop Development Authority authorities paid any serious attention towards this vital aspect nor the CEPT sought this vital data from the Revenue Department authorities.
“Now, because of the errors of the PDA and CEPT the draft of the Master Plan is being re-drafted and no time-frame can be specified for the completion of this exercise”, sources said, adding “it is a matter of serious concern that when numerous projects were being planned for Patnitop-Sanasar areas no serious attention was paid towards having new Master Plan in a time-bound manner”.
It is pertinent to mention here that Patnitop Development Authority was formed in the year 1992 under Section 4 of the Jammu and Kashmir Development Act, 1970 to look after tourism development related activities and the first Master Plan for the area was prepared in 1995 for the planned development of the area. This obsolete Master Plan is still governing the developmental activities in and around Patnitop.
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