Admn wants it in languishing projects
Suhail Bhat
Srinagar, Jan 24: Slow pace of work on the construction of Mini-Secretariat has evoked a strong resentment among the residents of Tral area in South Kashmir with administration blaming meagre funding for delaying completion of the project.
To meet the funding scarcity, the local administration has written to the Government for listing the project as languishing. “The project was not funded properly by the Government and that delayed its completion. We have requested it to be listed as languishing project. We are expecting decision in our favor and that would resolve all the funding issues,” Shabir Ahmad, Additional Development Commissioner told Excelsior.
The project has been facing disruption since it was approved by the Government in 2017. Authorities took seven months in deciding the location of the project and the construction work started in May 2018. “This was a big road block as the administration wasted seven months in finalizing the location for the project which was, otherwise, supposed to get completed in one year,” an official privy to the details said.
The situation that developed after 5th August also hampered the construction work. Even though the work on the project recently resumed but it ran out of funds. “We are preparing to complete slab work for the first floor. With that all our funds will get exhausted and that means the project will land into problem again”, General Manager Jammu and Kashmir Projects Corporation Company, Maqsood Ahmad Gonga, told Excelsior.
He said that the project would get some impetus with the granting of languishing status. “It will ensure the funding remains apace. We have already submitted the necessary paper work and are hopeful,” he said.
The project was aimed to cut down the inter-departmental dealing by bringing them in close proximity with each other. But the delay in its completion has disappointed the residents. They said that they were expecting speedy redressal of their grievances with the construction of the facility but Government let them down. “We were expecting redressal of all our grievances under a single roof, but that is not in offing in the near future,” Rouf Ahmad, a local said.
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