Centre for early benefits of development to people
Develop mechanism to monitor progress of works
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 4: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has asked Jammu and Kashmir administration to complete ongoing developmental projects well in time to avoid cost overrun and develop a mechanism to regularly monitor progress of the works.
The MHA has also called upon the Government to keep them informed about pace of the projects.
As per the official sources, a total of 1,41,815 new works/projects have been taken up under various Schemes/Sectors in Jammu and Kashmir since August 2019 when erstwhile State was divided into two Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh after being stripped off special status. A total of Rs 27,274 crore worth funds have been provided to the Union Territory for execution of these projects, they said.
While majority of projects/works under execution in Jammu and Kashmir are progressing smoothly and sticking to timelines, there have been reports that some of the works might jump the deadlines because of legal and other hurdles. Delay in projects will obviously lead to cost escalation which the Union Home Ministry as well as the Jammu and Kashmir Government want to avoid.
“Delay in completion of projects will deprive people of their early benefits besides increasing the cost,” sources said, adding the Central Government wants to avoid both. They want benefits of development to reach J&K at the earliest and there is no cost escalation.
“The Centre has also asked the Jammu and Kashmir administration to set up a mechanism which will monitor the progress periodically and inform the Union Home Ministry,” sources said, adding the mechanism has to be developed by the UT administration.
It may be mentioned here that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced a Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP) worth Rs 80,068 crore in November 2015, and many projects taken up under it had earlier jumped deadlines leading to jump in the cost. However, now majority of projects are meeting deadlines.
Under this package, the progress of projects being implemented in J&K has accelerated wherein 53 projects pertaining to 15 Ministries are being implemented at a cost of Rs 58,477 crore in various sectors such as Roads, Power, Health, Education, Tourism, Agriculture and Skill Development. Out of these, 25 projects have been completed or getting completed substantially, sources said.
They added that under the languishing projects programme, 1193 projects worth Rs 1984 crore were completed, including five projects which were incomplete for more than 20 years, 15 projects for more than 15 years and 165 projects for more than 10 years.
“Many projects have picked up pace in Jammu and Kashmir during last two years and work on some of them has been completed within the stipulated period. On other works, construction is at pace and they too are expected to meet the deadlines,” sources said.
Earlier, most of the projects in Jammu and Kashmir used to miss timeliness leading to huge cost overrun. However, now the projects are being taken up after proper funding to ensure that they are completed within the time-limit, sources said.
During his last visit to Jammu on April 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid foundation stone of Ratle and Kwar hydro-electric projects which will be constructed over river Chenab in Kishtwar district. Besides, he had also inaugurated some projects.
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