Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Dec 4: Political reasons are delaying Government of India’s approval to the mega Pilgrim Tourism Project worth Rs 50 crore for Jammu as the State Government is insisting for equal treatment to all three regions of J&K in this respect.
Notwithstanding the concentration of pilgrim tourism in Jammu and Union Ministry of Tourism’s policy of developing one pilgrim tourism circuit in each State of the country, the State Government is seeking treatment to J&K as a special case in regional and demographic backdrop, official sources informed the Excelsior.
Instead of one, three projects worth Rs 150 crore for development of a Pilgrim Tourism Circuit for Jammu, Sufi Tourism Circuit for Kashmir and a Buddhist Tourism Circuit for Ladakh were therefore submitted by the State Government to Union Ministry of Tourism a few months back.
Detailed Project Report (DPR) of these three mega projects, worth Rs 50 crore each were submitted for approval and funding of the same by Government of India with land and allied infrastructure under State component.
These mega projects include construction of gateways, parking lots, landscaping, tourist facilitation centre, face-lifting of entry points, eat points and beautification of the identified pilgrim sites.
Besides, temples, shrines, Ziarats, Gurdwaras and Churches, restoration of wall painting of historical nature, water bodies, heritage bricks, art and culture centers and local craft have also been included in the projects.
Raghunath temple, Panj-bakhtar temple, Ranbireshwar temple, Peer Kho, Baldev Ji temple, Bawe Wali Mata, Har Ki Pouri, Gurdwara Tali Sahib, Gurdwara Sunder Singh, Church near Id Gah, Ziarat Nau Gazia, Ziarat Panj Peer, Utterbehni, Purmandal, Chichi Mata temple, Narsingh Dev temple at Ghagwal, Sukrala Mata and Maha Dev temple at Billawar, ancient temples of Sui and Burj, Ziarat Shahdra Sharief, Gurdwara Nangali Sahib, Buddha Amarnath, Shiv Khori, Krimchi temples, Sudhmahadev, Gouri Kund and Gupt Ganga at Bhaderwah , Gouri Shanker temple in Kishtwar, Buddhist monastery in Gulabgarh and Machail Mata in Kishtwar are among the pilgrim sites included in the project for Jammu province.
For beautification of Katra, base camp to the world famous holy cave of Mata Vaishno Devi, gateways at Nomai Check Post and Domail have been proposed in the project besides development of a park along Ban Ganga and Devi Pindian.
The pilgrim tourism project also includes development of an environment park at Nandni Wildlife Sanctuary with an estimated cost of Rs 97.52 lakh.
Similarly, the projects for development of Sufi Circuit in Kashmir and Buddhist Circuit in Ladakh include shrines of these two regions, which are visited by the pilgrims from all over the country.
However, the State Government’s attempt to strike a balance among all three regions did not suit the Union Government’s plan of developing one pilgrim tourism circuit in each State.
Therefore, sources said, the Union Ministry of Tourism recently asked the State Government to either merge all three projects in a single circuit worth Rs 50 crore or prioritize them for one by one approval.
“The demographic and regional backdrop of J&K does not allow us to prioritize the projects or merge them into a single circuit and therefore we have requested the Government of India to treat J&K as a special case for approval to all three projects in a single go,’’ said Minister for Tourism G A Mir.
We have even suggested them (GoI) to accord administrative approval in a single go and then release the funds in three phases, he added.
However, so far there has been no response of the Union Ministry of Tourism over the State Government’s request for treating J&K as a special case with the result that Jammu, which is visited by manifold number of pilgrim tourists in comparison to Kashmir and Ladakh, is being deprived of development.
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