Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Feb 24: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said today that a wrong impression has been created in Jammu region by some political leaders that Jammu would develop only if they had the Chief Minister at the State from their region.
“This is absolutely wrong impression. What I have done for Jammu is an example of this (the wrong notion). Jammu can boast off the projects we have given to it. All this has been done by a Chief Minister, who hailed from Kashmir region. But I don’t consider myself as a Chief Minister of one region. I’m a Chief Minister of entire Jammu and Kashmir and I have ensured equal development of all three regions-Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh,” Omar said while addressing a function after laying foundation stone of Ropeway project between Peer Kho-Mahamaya-Shahbad near Bahu Fort here this afternoon.
“To name few, we have given Jammu the Fly Over project, runway expansion of Airport, Gandola Cable Car Project, 4th bridge over river Tawi, lake on Tawi river, Central University, Jammu Golf Course and multi-storey parking at General Bus Stand,” Omar said, adding “an absolutely wrong impression has been created by some leaders that Jammu would develop only under a Chief Minister of Jammu region”.
Though Omar didn’t name anyone, his statement is being viewed by the political observers as a dig on some Congress leaders, who had been stating that Jammu region would develop only under the leadership of Ghulam Nabi Azad, who had served as Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir from November 2005 to July 2008.
He said fourth bridge on Tawi bridge has been operational while gates of Tawi lake were ready and after raising of side walls, the authorities would start releasing water in it.
“We have obtained nod for expansion of Jammu Airport from the Ministry of Defence and work on it would start soon. We would also try our best for early commissioning of Gandola project at Bahu Fort. Work was also apace on second Fly Over from Bikram Chowk to Convent. Work on multi-storey parking at Bus Stand is also being taken up shortly,” Mr Abdullah said, adding he was naming only few major projects while there were several others, which have been executed or were under execution during five years two month tenure of his Government.
He said the General Bus Stand would stay so that the traders don’t suffer while construction of multi-storey parking there.
The Chief Minister also took a dig at Prof Chaman Lal Gupta (without naming him), who had served as Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation in Atal Bihari Vajpayee led NDA Government at the Centre, saying that he failed to ensure expansion of Jammu Airport though being the Civil Aviation Minister. He added that he personally took up the matter with the Ministry of Defence to take their NOC for expansion of the Airport, which would start soon.
“The same leader did nothing for Jammu as the Union Minister and now he was saying that Jammu wouldn’t develop till the region had its own Chief Minister,” he lamented.
Dispelling impression that trade of Jammu would be hit when the train reached Katra after the start of Udhampur-Katra railway line, Omar said: “we have created a number of tourist attraction spots and more such projects were in the pipeline to ensure that there was no let up in flow of tourists too Jammu”
“With the blessings of Mata Vaishno Devi, the traders of Jammu need not to worry. We won’t allow Jammu to become Pathankot. Jammu is the capital City. It would get its due. The tourist flow won’t suffer as we have generated a lot of facilities here. Jammu would always remain the City of attraction for tourists,” the Chief Minister said.
He added that the Government wouldn’t allow the traders of Jammu to suffer after the train shifts to Katra.
“After the runway expansion at Jammu Airport, big flights would start landing here resulting into increase in flow of the tourists,” he said.
Omar said that equitable and inclusive development of all the three regions of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh remained benchmark of the functioning of his Government and during the last five years all the three regions received similar attention on the development front.
The launch of Gandola project took a lot of time for getting clearance from the Supreme Court, Forest Advisory Committee, Wildlife Board and other environment protection related agencies.
The Chief Minister directed the concerned agencies to make the completion of project time bound so that Jammu will have this facility as soon as possible like Gulmarg. He said efforts are being made to develop Jammu as an important tourist destination for heritage tourism.
“The upcoming artificial lake in river Tawi and restoration of Mubarak Mandi Heritage Complex will give considerable boost to the efforts of the Government to rope in more and more tourists to Jammu,” Omar said.
The Jammu ropeway comprised of two sections. The Section-I with a length of 1137 meters will be between Peer Kho to Mahamaya while the Section-II with 453 meters length will be from Mahamaya Park to Shahbad. The ropeway will comprise mono-cable detachable Gandola system of 6-seater for 600 persons per hour with imported grips, rope, cabins and other critical components.
The project is likely to cost over Rs 40 crores and would be completed in 30 months. For Terminal-I, over 28 kanals of land and for Terminal-II, over 56 kanals of land at Mahamaya and for Terminal-III, about 15 kanals of land at Shahbad near Bahu Fort were being acquired by the authorities.
Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, Minister for Tourism G. A. Mir Minister for Horticulture and Culture Raman Bhalla, Minister of State for Tourism Sajjad Ahmad Kitchloo, and Parliament Member, Madan Lal Sharma, NC MLA Devender Singh Rana and several other Ministers and legislators were present on the occasion.
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