Not bringing any project to completion within the stipulated time has become the routine of the State administration. Concerned authorities know that delaying a project, even inordinately, would not evoke any question from any administrative authority. A cynic will say that stakeholders are interested in delaying the completion of a given project to make it possible for them to extract more money from the government in the name of escalation of cost of construction etc. It is true that with the passing of time costs escalate. But the real question is why a project is delayed. On the face of it, engineers and responsible authorities will produce a good number of reasons in support of delayed completion. The reality is that even if there are valid reasons for delay, why these are not addressed from the very beginning and are left over until the end of the financial year when more funds are sought in the next year’s budget.
Jammu International Convention Centre is a nearly 25-crore worth project floated by the Department of Hospitality and Protocol way back in 1998 during the Government of Farooq Abdullah. Seventeen years have gone by and the project is still not complete. Two years were lost in negotiating with the army to vacate the site selected for raising the JICC. We may ask a question. If the SKICC in Srinagar was constructed in record time, why JICC is still in complete after a lapse of seventeen long years. Evidently, there must be some strong reasons for this inordinate delay. We do not think that mere non-seriousness towards the completion of the project can be the reason for its delay. Evidently, there is some more to meet the eye than the simple questions like that. It is not simple discrimination against Jammu region as is the complaint; it is more than that. It is to bring harm to the interests of Jammu region and obstruct its path in giving practical support to national interests. International Convention Centre is an important channel of promoting all over the world our interests and aspirations and our potential for growth and development. This Convention Complex becomes a hub of political, economic and social activities of the State and its people. A modern convention complex that is functional in true sense of the term would make Jammu a focal point in dealing with national and foreign business magnates and corporate houses and thus open the prospect of rapid development of the region. However, it is not correct to think that incepting of the JICC would lessen the importance of Srinagar SKICC. Additionally, there are allegations of authorities trying to create one or the other hurdle in expeditious completion of the JICC. The allegation is that former Finance Minster in Omar Abdullah government deliberately put a squeeze on the funds meant for the construction of JICC. We cannot say much on this aspect of the case but the government should order a probe into delayed funding of the project and its fallout.
The Department of Hospitality and Protocol is not enjoying good reputation of fair deals with the contractors. Its history corroborates with our observation. The Department is alleged first to create difficulties and hurdles in implementing any new plan and then it abrogates the existing tender and calls for new tenders for the resumption of wok on a given project. This is precisely where the JICC project seems to be heading. The Head of the Department of Hospitality and Protocol says that only twenty per cent of the work is pending but the Department is thinking of discontinuing the existing contract and calling for new tenders for the completion of twenty per cent of pending work. This is amusing. The Department remained complacent for seventeen years with the existing contractor and now as it claims a couple of months more are required to complete it, the Department thinks of floating fresh tenders. Definitely, there is something fishy in this affair of withdrawing the contract and floating fresh tenders. It becomes all the more important that the record is put straight, which can be done by ordering departmental enquiry into the matter.
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