*Deadline expires, no step taken for DPR preparation
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, July 15: Substantiating the general opinion that decisions taken in the District Development Board meetings are not pursued seriously by the bureaucrats, the Technical Education Department has failed to honor the announcement made by none else than the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed regarding setting up of Skill Development Institute of international standards in Chenab valley area.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that during the District Development Board (DDB) meetings of Doda and Kishtwar held on July 4, the Chief Minister made announcement regarding establishment of Skill Development Institute of international standards in Chenab valley area to make available qualified manpower for the power projects.
This announcement was made keeping in view the fact that presently most of the skilled manpower for these projects is drawn from outside the State. In order to ensure that all the formalities are completed at the earliest and the announcement becomes reality in shortest possible time, the Chief Minister issued directions for preparation of Detailed Project Report (DPR) within 10 days so that work could be started on the project within one month.
His announcement generated hope among the unemployed youth of the Doda and Kishtwar districts about getting jobs in numerous power projects presently under execution or in the advanced stage of being executed as at present most of the skilled manpower for these projects is drawn from outside the State because of the fact that youth of these districts don’t possess requisite skill for being engaged in power projects.
Even Chief Minister had announced that measure would go a long way in providing succor to the people of the region especially the youth.
However, the Technical Education Department has failed to honor the announcement made by the Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as 10 days period for preparation of Detailed Project Report has elapsed but no step has been initiated by the concerned authorities to formulate the same, sources said
In this way, even the plan of starting work on the project is unlikely to materialize within the stipulated time-frame of one month. Moreover, the non-serious attitude of the Technical Education Department towards the announcement made by none else than the Chief Minister has substantiated the general opinion that the decisions taken in the DDB meetings are not being pursued seriously by the bureaucrats.
When contacted, Director Technical Education Shokat Ahmed Zargar said, “we are awaiting for the minutes of the DDB meeting and we would set into motion the exercise for Detailed Project Report formulation only on the receipt of the same”, adding “we cannot proceed unless we get recorded statement of the Chief Minister as after all various aspects are to be kept in mind while formulating Detailed Project Report”.
When his attention was drawn towards the 10 days time-frame, which expired yesterday, the Director said, “we can complete the DPR preparation exercise within 10 days after the receipt of minutes of meeting for which we have experts available with us”, adding “till we have Skill Development Institute with us, we can go ahead with imparting training from Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs)”.
However, a senior officer in the Chief Minister’s Secretariat, when contacted, said, “since Chief Minister had himself made the announcement and even fixed time-frame of 10 days for preparation of Detailed Project Report, there was no scope for the concerned department to wait for the minutes of meeting, which sometimes take even months for issuance”.
“Moreover, Chief Minister might have kept the urgency of establishment of such an institute in mind while making the DPR preparation and start of work exercise time-bound as such there is no justification behind delaying the action on announcement”, he further said, adding “the financial and other aspects doesn’t assume much significance when Chief Minister himself makes announcement about any project that too with much emphasis on time-bound action”.
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