Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Nov 2: The prestigious Jammu International Convention Centre (JICC), work on which was started nearly 14 years back, is yet to see the light of the day.
Rs 24.20 crore project, which was approved by the Government in the beginning of year 1998 was to be constructed on the pattern of Sher-e-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC) Srinagar behind Circuit House at Canal Road in a stipulated time frame but the concerned authorities failed to meet the deadline. Now another deadline of December 2013 has been set for the completion of this project.
The Government in 1998 had decided the construction of JICC Jammu on the pattern of SKICC Srinagar and the work was started on it in the same year by Hospitality and Protocol Department. However it suffered an initial delay of two years after the security forces putting up at the site of the project did not agree to shift from there and dispute continued for two years causing the delay.
After resolving the dispute with security agency the authorities started the work on the Convention Centre but it was again abandoned for years together due to paucity of funds and after a dispute surfaced between the contractors and the Department. The former sought the intervention of court to settle the dispute.
The 14 year -long delay in the construction of the project has led to a lot of public resentment and people accused the Government of deliberately delaying the construction. When the SKICC was constructed in Kashmir Valley in a stipulated time why the construction of JICC was delayed constantly for such a long time is a million dollar question”, observed some political analysts from the region.
This showed that there was no shift in the discriminatory approach of the Government towards the Jammu region, they said adding that Finance Ministry was the major hurdle in timely construction of the JICC.
The Government should assign the reasons for such a long delay in the construction of the project, which should have been completed at the most in two years of time, they said. There is a lot of resentment among the people over delaying the construction of this prestigious project, which could have hosted hundreds of important conferences, seminars and other functions over the years, they added.
It may be recalled that the SKICC, Srinagar, which was constructed during the tenure of then Chief Minister Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah in 1977 has alone hosted 124 conferences in 2009-2010 and 108 conferences in 2010-2011. But the Jammu ICC is yet to see the light of the day.
The issue also surfaced in Legislative Council several times and members expressed grave concern over delaying the construction of JICC. They protested against the failure of Government in constructing the convention center in a stipulated time frame. The members had also sought the details about the progress and status of this project from the Government besides raising question mark on the intentions of the Government.
While expressing surprise over the delay in construction of work, the legislators wanted to know that when out of total estimated cost of Rs 12.21 crore the Government has spent Rs 11.34 crore over its construction why the work was delayed for just Rs 76 lakh.
With the increasing public pressure and resentment shown by the people of the region over delaying the project and after the issue was also taken up by some members in Legislative Council, Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah in April gave instructions of resuming the work and completing the project as early as possible.
Soon after the Government’s instructions, the authorities resumed the work in May with a deadline of completing the project by December next year.
However the authorities are optimistic of inaugurating the ICC Jammu, by December next year as the pending work will be completed by that time.
Admitting that the work has been constantly delayed, S S Jamwal, Director Hospitality and Protocol, said that paucity of funds and some legal wrangles created hurdles in the timely completion of the convention centre.
He said the work, which was stopped has been resumed in May this year and it is going on full swing. The construction work will be completed by December next year, he added.
The electricity work is going on and air-conditioning and interior decoration etc will be started soon so that the same is completed by December 2013 the deadline given by the Department, he said.
He said the dispute with some contractors who had gone to court and stayed the work and paucity of funds caused a delay in the construction of ICC.
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