It sounds somewhat unbelievable. More than a decade has gone by when the Patnitop Development authority conceptualized aerial ropeway of 3.8 kilometer length from Patnitop to Karla. In 2004 the project was formally submitted. The history of this proposal, the labyrinth of officialdom as well as of the stake-holding agencies was almost formidable. Looking in retrospect, one is puzzled how at the end of the decade, the apex Court finally granted sanction to the aerial ropeway at Patnitop. We shall not recount the long and tortuous path this project had to travel before seeing the light of the day. And all these ten years were consumed by the first step namely the permission from all stakeholders to the construction of the project. The actual execution of the project will begin now; and how much time it will need to come to completion, is still a moot point.
But any dispassionate review of the decade-long paper-man-ship will not yield discouraging results. In the first place a number of agencies and organizations were involved in the project. Department of Environment, Forest Department, Forest Advisory Committee, Patnitop Development Authority, landowners and above all the Supreme Court to which the aggrieved party had approached for justice all had a say in the project. In June last, a three-member team of the Supreme Court visited the area where from the aerial ropeway is supposed to pass and then submitted their report. Now the Bench of the Supreme Court has cleared the construction of the aerial ropeway.
There is justification for pursuing the case for so long a time. Patnitop is developing a lucrative tourist spot in the State. It scenic view is attractive and enervating. Patnitop has already become a much liked place and thousands of tourists from Northern India rush to it to spend weekends or more when the plains become burning oven during the summer heat. Here the visitors enjoy cool breeze of fir trees and the entire hilly area showing up as lush green forest. The Tourism Department has already made good investment here and both public and private enterprise has given it much impetus as a tourists spot.
There is yet one more aspect to the proposed aerial ropeway. With the tunneling of the Nashri, a project that is underway, and with the traffic diverted through the tunnel on its completion, the tourist to Kashmir will miss the scenic beauty of Patnitop. Therefore in order to cater to the taste of tourists, the proposed aerial ropeway will be a special attraction for them. It will add to the tourist activity in the State and consequently help strengthen State’s economy.
Now that the project has finally got green signal from the Apex Court, a couple of observations can be made. We agree that in such kind of project a number of agencies are involved, and their consent is a condition that has to be fulfilled. But let us be rational. Ten years is too long a time to test the patience of the people in general and the locals in particular. Cannot the Government think of ways and means in which this long delay in obtaining sanction for such projects can be reduced? Why should not the concerned agencies be given a time limit within which their reports about approval or disapproval should come? Why should it not be possible for the Government to arrange a visit-on-spot of all responsible authorities that are concerned in one way or the other with the project to visit the spot and hold a meeting and take the final decision?
It has to be recalled that the new Government in the Centre has given sufficient hints to the administrative apparatus that incomplete projects should be completed within time schedule and if any new project is floated, that too should be completed within time. It means regular monitoring of the progress in work at these projects. Ten years just for sanction is too much. But of course we don’t ignore the positive side of delayed decision. The height of the ropeway will be increased, the number of towers proposed in the original plan will be reduced by ten towers at least and the number of trees that need to be axed has been drastically reduced from 115 to 15 or 20.
Another thing to which we would like to draw the attention of the authorities is that the project should be completed within time schedule. If its sanctioning took ten years, God alone knows how many decades would be needed to bring its execution to completion. We hope that the Patnitop Development Authority will take care of that aspect.
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