Pacing up of work on Mubarak Mandi remains on papers
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Mar 26: Making mockery of an important institution, several Government departments have failed to translate into reality many decisions taken by the District Development Board of Jammu in the presence of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti and Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh about one year back. This has clearly established that repeated instructions from the Planning, Development and Monitoring Department about constant monitoring of progress on such decisions by the concerned authorities have fallen on deaf ears.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that during the District Development Board meeting of Jammu held on March 10, 2017, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had ordered immediate release of Rs 15 crore to take sewerage project of Jammu city forward by linking septic tanks with the underground pipes. It was assured by the authorities of Housing and Urban Development Department that sewerage project will be completed by ending 2017-18 financial year.
“Though the current financial year is all set to end yet the Housing and Urban Development Department has failed to get sewerage project completed as was announced in the main DDB meeting and review meeting held under the chairmanship of Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Singh on October 31, 2017”, sources said, adding “what to talk of completion of entire project even sewer lines have not been laid in several parts of Jammu and in those areas where the lines have already been laid house connections are yet to be provided as such the DDB decision has remained unimplemented”.
The Chief Minister had also directed for conservation and face lifting of historic Raghunath Mandir and adjoining areas, which form a major attraction for tourists. “However, no major work has been carried out in the area during the past one year except installation of music system inside the historic temple by the Tourism Department”, sources said.
In the DDB meeting, directions were also issued for pacing up of work on historic Mubarak Mandi Complex while terming it as an important tourist and cultural asset of the State. The Chief Minister had even expressed concern over slow pace of work on the project.
“However, work on the historic complex is still going on at a snail’s pace. Moreover, alternate agency has not been roped in so far despite the fact that this is an important step to give necessary impetus to the ongoing work”, sources said while disclosing that even parking slot in the vicinity of Mubarak Mandi complex has not been made operational till date which otherwise was also one of the directions passed by the Chief Minister while chairing DDB meeting.
After getting feed-back from the officers of the Health Department about ongoing works on 200 bedded Maternity Hospital at Gandhi Nagar, Sub-District Hospitals at Jourian, Bishnah, Akhnoor and Khour besides Ayurvedic College at Akhnoor, the Chief Minister had asked for completion of these projects during the 2017-18 financial year so as to provide much needed facilities to the people.
“This direction too met the same fate as executing agencies have failed to meet the timeline and some more months will be required for completion of these projects”, sources informed, adding “the failure to meet the timeline is notwithstanding the fact that the Chief Minister had asked the executing agencies for strictly following the scheduled time-frame so that benefits of these projects percolate to the people”.
In the meeting, it was informed that 19 tube wells with a discharge of nine million gallons per day will be completed by Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) during 2017-18 financial year. However, this timeline has not been met till date although financial year is drawing to close within next few days.
“These are the enough examples of non-serious approach of the concerned authorities towards the decisions and assurances made in the District Development Board meeting”, sources remarked, adding “it is a matter of serious concern that repeated instructions from the Planning, Development and Monitoring Department regarding strict adherence to the DDB decisions have fallen on the deaf ears”.
“By not taking timely action on the decisions and assurances made in the DDB meetings the concerned officers are making mockery of an important institution”, sources further remarked.
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