*Deptts eroding relevance of vital institution
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, May 13: In what could be the testimony of District Development Boards (DDBs) losing their relevance with every passing year, majority of the decisions taken by the Boards of Udhampur and Ramban that too in the presence of the then Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed have yet not been taken seriously by the respective Government departments. Due to this the development related issues of the people have remained unaddressed and their elected representatives irrespective of the party affiliation are fuming.
Though at the Government level nobody is ready to admit that departments have the habit of soft-paddling on the decisions taken in the District Development Boards, the fact remains that largely decisions taken at a platform, which is no less important than the State Cabinet, are not taken with the required seriousness and follow-up action is not initiated in a time bound manner.
The non-seriousness on the part of the departments is notwithstanding the fact that decisions of the District Development Boards have the endorsement of Ministers, Members of Legislative Assembly and Members of Legislative Council that too in the presence of senior functionaries of various departments.
According to the sources, large number of decisions which were taken in the DDB meetings of Udhampur and Ramban chaired by none else than the then Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in the month of July last year, have remained unimplemented at a time when the Government has started holding fresh DDB meetings to finalize the District Plan for the current financial year.
In the DDB meeting of Udhampur, it was decided that Irrigation Department will prepare Detailed Project Report for Kailash Kund Micro-hydel project, Technical Education Department will expedite construction of ITI College at Ramnagar, J&K State Sports Council will develop Udhampur Stadium, Industries Department will revive Industrial Estates at Ramnagar and Majalta, Housing and Urban Development Department will expedite the exercise to establish Solid Waste Management Plant, Tourism Department to develop Mantalai Tourist Circuit and enquiry would be conducted to ascertain the reasons behind bad condition of Ramnagar road despite expenditure of Rs 42 crore on 27 kilometer stretch.
“Despite lapse of more than 10 months, nobody including the elected representatives of the people know whether Irrigation Department has prepared DPR for Kailash Kund micro-hydel project”, sources said, adding “the Technical Education and Industries Departments have yet not initiated any step for expediting construction of ITI College at Ramnagar and revival of Industrial Estates at Ramnagar and Majalta”.
“Nobody from these departments came forward to implement the decisions of the DDB meeting”, rued MLA Ramnagar, R S Pathania, adding “even no enquiry has so far been initiated by the Roads and Buildings Department to ascertain the reasons behind poor condition of Ramnagar road despite expenditure of Rs 42 crore although there was an explicit direction from the then Chief Minister in this regard”.
He admitted that Tourism Department has yet not come up with any concrete proposal or funds for development of Mantalai Tourist Circuit.
Similar is the fate of decision vis-à-vis development of Sports Stadium at Udhampur as J&K State Sports Council has yet not shown any seriousness. “Much has been talked about developing this stadium with all the required facilities but all is confined to the statements with ground situation remaining dismal”, sources said, adding “when the Solid Waste Management Project will come up on ground cannot be committed by any of the officer of the Housing and Urban Development Department in the absence of committed source of funding”.
“I have not seen follow-up action by the concerned departments on the decisions taken in the last DDB meeting”, remarked MLA Udhampur, Pawan Gupta, adding “these meetings should have been chaired by the Chief Minister herself as Chairmen (Ministers) don’t have the enough powers to get the issues pertaining to large number of departments resolved”.
As far as Ramban district is concerned, several decisions including Critical Care Ambulance for Banihal, Kendriya Vidyalaya at Gool, tourist resort at Daggan Top and upgradation of infrastructure of Gool College were taken in the last DDB meeting chaired by the then Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
“No Critical Care Ambulance has been provided for Banihal despite the fact that entire Ramban district is on the top of the list of the districts which have registered increase in road traffic accidents”, sources said, adding “as far as Kendriya Vidyalaya at Gool is concerned, only land has been identified but acquisition proceedings are yet to be initiated and in the absence of land where the KV will come up remains a million dollar question”.
Similarly, tourist resort at Daggan Top and upgradation of infrastructure of Gool College have remained only on papers despite lapse of more than 10 months since the last DDB meeting. “What sort of tourist resort will come up in the absence of funds…..how can you expect upgradation of college’s infrastructure without release of single penny”, remarked an officer of the district administration when contacted.
According to the sources, in the absence of follow-up action by the departments on the decisions taken in previous DDB meetings, the developmental aspirations of the people have remained unaddressed. “What to talk of people even the elected representatives irrespective of the party affiliation are fuming over non-serious approach of the departments”, sources added.
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