Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Sept 30: The State Government today announced series of projects for Jammu and Samba districts including Rs 1100 crores worth beautification of river Tawi on the pattern of river Sabarmati in Gujarat, two Ring Roads from Raya Morh in Vijaypur to Akhnoor Road and Nagrota and an additional Airport for Jammu in Samba district. A high level Committee of different departments would formulate the plan for river Tawi.
The new projects for Jammu and Samba districts and modifications in existing projects were announced in review meetings of the District Development Boards (DDBs) of Jammu and Samba held here today under the chairmanship of Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh, who heads both the Boards.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the Government has decided to undertake ambitious project for beautification of river Tawi from Sidhra to fourth bridge at Ware House at the cost of Rs 1100 crores under PPP (Public Private Partnership) mode on the pattern of Sabarmati river in Gujarat, which was developed by Sabarmati Development Corporation.
A study for the project has already been undertaken by the Housing and Urban Development Department of the State Government whose officials visited Sabarmati under the chairmanship of Commissioner/Secretary of the Department and comprising the officers of Jammu Development Authority, Tourism Development Department, Jammu Municipal Corporation etc. The Committee placed its report in the DDB meeting after which a go ahead was given to the project for beautification of river Tawi on the pattern of Sabarmati.
The Centre has, in principle, given its nod to fund Rs 1100 crores worth project under the PPP mode. Once the Detailed Project Report (DPR) is prepared, the Government will approach the Centre for the funding, sources said, adding the river Tawi will be divided into seven zones for beautification starting from Sidhra to fourth bridge near Ware House.
The beautification plan included cleanliness of river Tawi and development of its banks by setting up Conferences, Recreation Halls and Amusement Parks etc by making it a complete independent tourist destination.
Dr Singh ordered setting up of a Committee with Divisional Commissioner, Jammu Pawan Kotwal as Nodal Officer and JDA VC Mubarak Singh as its head for finalizing the plan before submitting it to the Centre.
However, the new project will not impact the construction of lake in river Tawi, which will meet its deadline of completion in March 2016.
The Board meeting gave its nod to the proposal for construction of 97.8 kilometers long Ring Road starting from Raya Morh in Vijaypur and landing on one side at Akhnoor road near Domana and another side at Nagrota. The Ring Road will act as an alternate bypass to the vehicles headed for Akhnoor, Poonch and Rajouri on one side and Udhampur and beyond on the other side.
“The western ring road will have length of 57.8 kilometers while eastern ring road will have 40 kilometers length,” sources said, adding the report has been forwarded to the Planning and Development Department. The Centre has already agreed to fund the project.
Sources said in view of ever increasing rush of the passengers intending to travel by air to Jammu and keeping in view the long term plan and rush of tourists including pilgrims tourists of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi ji shrine, the State Government has decided to get ready for construction of another Airport somewhere in Samba, where huge chunk of land is available. Dr Nirmal Singh issued directions to the Deputy Commissioner, Samba for identification of the land.
Another important decision taken in the meeting was the extension of Ragunath Bazaar heritage project from City Chowk to Shaheedi Chowk via Kanak Mandi and Rajinder Bazaar.
For Samba district, Dr Nirmal Singh directed the Deputy Commissioner to prepare roadmap for development of tourist spots including Surinsar, Chamliyal, Purmandal and Utterbehni to attract the tourists. He said the Government would release funds for the development of these tourist spots but the administration first prepare a roadmap as to how the spots will be developed and facilities generated for the tourists.
The DDB meeting approved Rs 18.6 lakh for providing more facilities to the devotees at Bawe Wali Mata temple in Bahu Fort. The facilities will be generated by the Jammu Development Authority (JDA). He directed that work on Mubarak Mandi heritage complex and ropeway project should be expedited.
The Deputy Chief Minister directed the authorities to ensure completion of Sher-i-Kashmir Institute for Convention Centre (SKICC) Jammu by December 2015. He decided to himself visit the place for on spot inspection. He directed the Power and Development Department to provide 24×7 electricity supply from where full revenue was being generated including the industrial areas.
As number of members in the DDB meeting raised the issues pertaining to ration, they took serious exception to absence of CAPD Director GS Chib from the Board meeting and called upon the Deputy Chief Minister for action. The ration related problems of the members were deferred.
The Board meeting was briefed that district Jammu has been allocated Rs 193 crores worth budget for current financial years including Rs 139 crores under Central share, Rs 25.29 crores under State share for Centrally Sponsored Schemes, Rs 17.82 crores as loan and Rs 11.11 crores as Regular Schemes. The State Government has released 75 per cent of the total budget for the district. The expenditure included 63 per cent.
An official handout said Minister for Social Welfare, Forests, Environment and Ecology, Bali Bhagat, Minister for Industries and Commerce, Chander Prakash Ganga, Minister of State for Education, Information and Culture, Priya Sethi, Vice Chairman Kissan Advisory Board, Daljit Singh Chib, Vice Chairman Advisory Board for Welfare & Development of Schedule Caste Welfare Advisory Board, Bushan Lal Dogra, Legislators Ch Sham Lal, Devender Singh Rana, Rajesh Gupta, Sat Pal Sharma, Kamal Arora, Dr Gagan Bhagat, Rajeev Sharma, Dr Krishan Lal, Dr D K Manyal, Ashok Khajuria, Surinder Mohan Ambardar, Surinder Choudhary and heads of concerned departments were present in the meeting.
District Development Commissioner, Jammu Simrandeep Singh presented a detailed report of the physical and financial progress achieved under different schemes. He said that out of the available funds of Rs. 51 crore, Rs. 32 crore have been expended, registering an expenditure of 63 per cent. He also apprised about the DDB directions which have been implemented in the district besides those which are under execution including setting up of model schools, upgrading facilities at Bawe Wali Mata temple, construction of ring road to ease traffic congestion in Jammu city.
The Deputy Chief Minister took a detailed review of the ongoing developmental activities and directed the concerned officers to take on board the concerned MLAs and other public representatives while implementing ongoing development works. “This will greatly help to achieve optimum result under various State and Centrally sponsored schemes envisaging welfare and development of all areas”, he asserted.
He directed the concerned departments to work in synergy and plan accordingly so that the issues are resolved giving impetus to the developmental initiatives. ”The honest intentions of the Government should transform into sincere execution of developmental projects”, he stressed.
While taking a review of the projects under tourism sector, the Chairman said that beautification and development of banks of river Tawi on the pattern of river Sabarmati is an ambitious project which will significantly add to tourist influx in the State. He stressed on chalking out a comprehensive working strategy and to incorporate this project in the master plan for its effective implementation. He was briefed by Vice-Chairman JDA who along with a team of experts had gone to study the feasibility of replicating the Sabarmati river front project in Jammu. The Deputy Chief Minister also took a detailed review of the status of ongoing works of flyover, convention center at Canal road and project for airport expansion.
Director Tourism informed that the Tourist Reception Centre (TRC) at Akhnoor shall be made functional within a month.
Taking a review of Power sector, the Deputy Chief Minister asked the concerned officers to identify the assets of PDD and prepare a data bank to ensure that these are utilized optimally. He said that efforts are also afoot to ensure speedy execution of two important schemes ADPRP and Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY) one of the flagship programmes of the Ministry of Power focusing on feeder separation (rural households and agricultural) and strengthening of sub-transmission and distribution infrastructure including metering at all levels in rural areas. “This will help in providing round the clock power to rural households and adequate power to agricultural consumers” he added.
Dr Singh also stressed on generating awareness about the schemes and programmes of the Government so that people can avail their benefits.
Minister for Social Welfare, Forests and Ecology Bali Bhagat asked the administration to mitigate the problems of drinking water by framing the DPR for Ranjan Lift Irrigation canal.
Later, the Deputy Chief Minister, while chairing a similar review meeting of District Development Board Samba, emphasized upon all the departments to ensure cent percent utilization of funds allocated under different schemes by optimally utilizing their resources and manpower. In this regard, he underscored the need for evolving an innovative and result oriented work plan. He asked the officers to make sure that all the deprived segments of the society are taken care of while formulating and implementing development programmes.
PoK only unsettled issue: Nirmal
Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh said today that Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) is the only unsettled issues between India and Pakistan, which has been demonstrated by the protests against Pakistan by the people of PoK.
Talking to media persons on the sidelines of the District Development Board (DDB) meetings here, Dr Singh said the anger of the people of PoK against Pakistan has spilled on the road and the people there were holding strong demonstration against Pakistan for committing atrocities on the people.
“We stand by the 1994 Parliament resolution of PoK as per which PoK is part and parcel of India. PoK is the only unsettled issue between India and Pakistan,” he said, adding: “we fully stand by the Parliament resolution on PoK”.
Referring to the protests, the Deputy Chief Minister said Pakistan has now started facing the music.
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