Suhail Bhat
SRINAGAR, Oct 13: The construction of a Mini-Secretariat in Hajin area of North Kashmir’s Bandipora district, which was approved four years ago, has been halted due to delay in the release of funds.
The locals accused the Government of being unconcerned about the issue, claiming that the construction work has been abandoned for no apparent reason. “If construction work continues at its current pace, the project will not be completed in the next three decades, much to the chagrin of the locals,” Afzal Ahmad, a local said.
According to an official, the project, which is aimed to reduce time spent in interdepartmental dealings by bringing departments closer together, was approved in 2016 at a cost of over Rs 4 crore and was expected to be completed in a year. “The Government is not serious about the project, and lack of funds has overstretched it. The project may face further delays if the funds are not released,” he said.
Executive Engineer for the Roads and Buildings Department, Manzoor Ahmad, admitted that the project had been halted due to a lack of funds. “Work has been halted due to a lack of funds,” he said.
He said that the contractor’s bills have been outstanding for over a year. “The project does not have any funds. Bills worth over Rs 60 lakhs are pending. The work was proceeding at a steady pace, but the project was halted due to a lack of funds,” he explained, adding that the pace of work slowed after funds for the completed work were not received.
Meanwhile, local residents expressed their displeasure with the construction work’s halt. They said people had hoped for a quick resolution to their grievances about the construction of the Mini-Secretariat in their area, but an allegedly abysmal government had let them down. “We expected all of our issues to be resolved under one roof, but the authorities’ callous attitude has squandered the opportunity,” said Riyaz Ahmad, a resident.
Locals said they were having numerous difficulties as a result of having to visit various government departments. “In order to resolve an issue, we had to visit multiple offices in different directions. Our entire day is wasted in the process. The facility would have saved us time and energy”, he said, adding that they had hoped that bringing departments closer together would reduce the amount of time spent on inter-departmental dealings, but authorities had failed to put the plan into action.
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