Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 28: Th Gulchain Singh Charak, President, Dogra Sadar Sabha, has flayed the continued official apathy in maintenance of historic monuments and Tourism development, particularly of Jammu Region, despite of adequate funds available for the purpose.
In this connection, he made a special mention of the reported lapse of Rs 100 crores, most of which was allotted well in time to the Department of Archives, Archeology & Museums for revival, restoration, preservation and maintenance of architecture and heritage sites of J&K UT during the just concluded financial year 2021-22.
Addressing a press conference, here today, Charak attributed this loss to poor planning and coordination between the concerned departments and said that the inability to prepare the requisite DPRs in time by concerned engineers and other staff reflected low priority attached to their capacity building in fields of architecture of shrines, temples, historical monuments, landscaping and associated features. He said that appointment of experienced consultants and outsourcing of relevant staff under a carefully devised system would have facilitated timely completion of works and fulfilled public aspirations in this regard.
Charak also referred to the repeated failure of Light & Sound (laser show) Programme at Bagh-e-Bahu and questioned: “If this was to happen to the much hyped projects of the Union Territory, how the tourists would be attracted towards Jammu region and how they would be assured of fair returns to their investments in tourism sector?” He resented the manner in which Annual Jammu Festival was being handled for the past few years by Government agencies and alleged that the festival had been relegated to the level of a mere official ritual. He stressed that the Jammu Festival should be organized for longer duration as a major promotional activity for art, craft, agriculture, industry and trade.
DSS President also alleged poor upkeep and neglect of landing and takeoff sites of Bahu Ropeway Project at the otherwise picturesque Jamwant Gufa (Peer Kho) Park and Maha Maya area.
Mr Charak appealed to the UT Administration, headed by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha, to look into the progressive demands of the Dogra Sadar Sabha with a positive attitude so that the people of Jammu region do not lose hope in the prevailing system of governance.
Col Karan Singh (Retd), Prem Sagar Gupta, Col Dr Virendra K Sahi (Retd), Gambhir Dev Singh Charak, Chander Mohan Sharma and others were also present in the press conference.
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