Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Aug 3: Due to ill planning and non-seriousness of the Government, an amount of nearly Rs 1.50 crore has gone down the drain, which otherwise was spent on creation of infrastructure at Kishtwar and Mansar with the objective of promoting tourism activities in these areas. This infrastructure has never been used for the intended purpose during the last over four years and is mocking at those who had planned the same.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that in March 2009 the Kishtwar Development Authority constructed water sports centre at Dul at the cost of Rs 1.21 crore, which includes cost of the land, under Destination Development Phase-II, Kishtwar for promotion of adventure tourism.
However, before spending such a huge amount no exercise was conducted to assess the feasibility of conducting water sports activities in the Dul reservoir, sources said.
The intensity of the lack of planning can be gauged from the fact that despite knowing that water reservoir was constructed under Dul Hasti Hydro Electric Project and the area was restricted for the public, the authorities of the Kishtwar Development Authority constructed the water sports centre without obtaining permission from the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), sources said.
“Due to this the infrastructure could not be utilized for the intended purpose during the past over five years and Rs 1.21 crore expenditure has remained unfruitful”, sources said, adding “the non-seriousness can be gauged from the fact that even after the lapse of five years the Kishtwar Development Authority has not initiated any step to obtain permission from the NHPC”.
“Notwithstanding the stance of the Kishtwar Development Authority that the project was identified in view of huge water body but the purpose could not be achieved due to less inflow of adventure tourism lovers and restrictions imposed by NHPC, the fact is that this project is the testimony of lack of planning for which the Coalition Government is known everywhere”, sources said.
Had the concerned authorities been serious in making use of the infrastructure for the intended purpose they should have applied for the permission from the NHPC at least during the past five years, they said.
When contacted, General Manager, NHPC Dul Hasti Project, Arvind Bhat said, “nobody has applied for the permission to start water sports activities in the reservoir till date”, adding “I don’t know whether the Kishtwar Development Authority has any plans in this regard”.
Despite repeated attempts, Chief Executive Officer of Kishtwar Development Authority, M N Sheikh could not be contacted for his comments about the unfruitful expenditure of Rs 1.21 crore.
Similar is the fate of Rs 24 lakh expenditure by the Surinsar-Mansar Development Authority on purchase and installation of video games in the cafeteria building at Mansar.
“Surinsar-Mansar Development Authority got installed video games at a cost of Rs 24 lakh from Ahmedabad-based firm in January 2010 in order to attract more tourists to this place but the intended objective could not be achieved despite lapse of four years”, sources said.
“Earlier, the games could not be operationalized due to non-availability of trained manpower and when the exercise initiated to outsource the games the contractor found the games non-operational as such demanded their repairs before going ahead with the start of facility”, they said, adding “due to lack of planning vis-à-vis operationalization and maintenance an expenditure of Rs 24 lakh has gone down the drain”.
When contacted, Chief Executive Officer of Surinsar-Mansar Development Authority, Ashok Pandita confirmed that video games installed in 2010 could not be put to use till date. “We have recently got the games repaired and contractor has assured to make attempts to put the same to use for attracting the tourists”, he added.
The Chief Executive Officer, however, could not specify the time-frame for start of the games.
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