Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, Jan 16: The commissioning of the multi-story Sri Partap Singh (SPS) Library, Srinagar, by the end of this year has run into the rough weather as police today evicted staff and the workers of the Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation (JKPCC) who were constructing the building.
The prestigious Rs 34 crore SPS Library building being constructed by the JKPCC in the city centre Lal Cowk on Moulana Azad Road was to be handed over to the Department of Libraries by end of this year for commissioning the SPS Library.
But the Police following a court order dated 01-01-2013 in the case of Ghulam Abbas Rather v/s Manzoor Ahmad Burza and Others today locked the under construction SPS Library by evicting the construction workers, staff and watch and ward.
The Additional District Judge Srinagar has asked the Police Station Kothi Bagh to evict the tress-passer. The applicant had sought protection of the property by locking the property inside after evicting the tress-passer.
The land to the SPS Library was transferred by the Government a decade ago under order No. 150 – Edu (Tech) of 2003 dated 13-11-2003. The Government order says: “Sanction is accorded to the transfer of land measuring 2 kanals from the College of Education Srinagar to the Director Libraries for proposed shifting, construction of SPS Library.”
The Government through another order, QM No. HL/Plan-64/04/COE, dated 01-03-2005 transferred one kanal and 6 maralas of land of Higher Education Department from College of Education to the SPS library in 2005 for the construction of the building.
The Deputy General Manager JKPCC fearing illegal occupation of the site by “some vested interests” in his letter (No. 187/13/2615-20 dated 16-01-2013) to the District Development Commissioner Srinagar has sought his intervention for safe guarding their machinery worth crores of rupees.
The letter says: “There is huge quantity of Material of different types and Machinery amounting to more than hundreds of lakhs of Rupees lying in the premises and under construction building which has been left unattended as the watch and ward staff of the site have also been made to leave the site, with the result there is every apprehensions that pilferages of the materials, machinery etc may take place and also some illegal occupation of the site area may take place by some vested interests.”
The DGM JKPCC has further sought orders from the DDC “so that the illegal motives by some vested interests are avoided and any loss for material, machinery does not occur”.
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