Avtar Bhat
JAMMU : Though various announcements made during the last budget Session held in March 2015 by the then Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Nirmal Singh who also holds the portfolio of Urban Development Ministry were kept but no headway has been made on other commitments made by him during the same session.
One of the major commitments made by Dr Singh while replying to the annual grants of his Ministry in State Assembly on March 29 was that Capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar will be developed as smart cities but this commitment is still hanging in balance as no progress has been made on this account so far. Not only this Dr Singh had gone to the extent of making another commitment on the floor of the Assembly on the same day that starting of work on smart cities of Srinagar and Jammu will be followed by smart cities of Katra and Anantnag.
As the development of smart cities is the brain child of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and under the scheme selected cities were earmarked for every State for the purpose. While many cities were selected as smart cities in bigger States like UP, Bihar and MP, J&K which has peculiar situation in the country not only with regard to its special Constitutional position but also in other matters like topography, geographical, climatic and living conditions of the people could not be considered for the two smart cities in the first phase the list of which was published by Union Government last year.
Under these circumstances to select one city as the smart city when the State has two capital cities i.e Jammu and Srinagar can create problems for any Government. As by declaring only one city as smart city, the people of other region may feel let down and this can generate a public resentment as well as problem for Government also.
So to take the people of both the regions along, the then Deputy CM announced that both capital cities would be declared as smart cities simultaneously. However, this proposal could not see the light of the day as it did not get nod from Union Government on the pretext that J&K is a very small State in comparison to other States of India which were given two or more smart cities. Hence no headway has been made in accomplishing the task so far and the announcement remained confined to the papers only.
This way the performance and progress on this front is totally zero so far, as no steps were taken by the concerned department also to plead the case of two cities. Going by the progress on creation of two smart cities of Srinagar and Jammu followed by Katra and Anantnag in the State, the announcement seemed totally hollow the day when Union Government declared the first list of smart cities in the country last year in which no mention was made about J&K.
Another commitment which was made by the then DyCM on the floor of the House on the same day was regarding development of other cities and towns as well as redressal of problems of Safai Karamcharis. But no tangible has been materialized on this account also and the problems of Safai Karamcharis are still as they were.
The Safai Karamcharis are demanding their regularization, stopping of contract system through an NGO and enhancement of their wages but no steps were taken in last 10 months to solve the issue and the announcement made by Dr Singh seems to have remained confined to the files only.
The Safai Karamcharis doing odd jobs are getting Rs 4000 per month and there are 800 Safai Karamcharis in JMC alone who crave for their regularization and enhancement of wages but the Government has not taken any positive steps in solving the issue. Moreover, there is no headway regarding construction of colony for Safai Karamcharis in Jammu as maximum of them being poor have no residential houses. No Steps were taken by the successive Governments to construct any colony for them after 1962 when two colonies at Gandhi Nagar and Bakshi Nagar were developed for them.
However, there are various other announcements for whose fulfillment the concerned Government agencies are on the job. They include holding of Municipal and Local Bodies elections as the Government has announced the dates for the same and these elections most likely will be held in March, this year.
Besides, the Government has taken some drastic steps for the development of urban and sub-urban areas in the State and in this regard an action plan of Rs 805 crore has been submitted to GoI under which Rs 14.00 crore were released for construction of HHL , community latrines and for development of Solid Waste Management Projects in the State.
Under Swachh Bharat Mission 10 community toilets at Billawar, Jammu, RS Pura, Chenani, Bhaderwah, Baramulla, Jahangir Chowk Srinagar, Hyderpora Bypass and Anantnag have been taken up for execution. For management of solid waste Rs 90 crore project for Srinagar city has been sanctioned, steps are also afoot for development of parking places, both in Srinagar and Jammu and funds have been earmarked for the same. The foundation of multi level parking at General Bus Stand Jammu has already been laid while construction of Modern Abattoirs at Alloochibagh Srinagar has been finalized and similar project will be established at Jagti Jammu. The Process for replacing of Sodium Vapour street lights has been started with energy effective LED Lights by H&UD Department.
Besides efforts are also afoot to develop river Tawi on pattern of Sabarmati River -front Development Project. Moreover, the work on many more projects in the two capital cities and other towns is going on. The Fly over Project from Bikram Chowk to Women College Gandhi Nagar will be completed by December this year while the construction of Tawi lake will be completed by March this year as claimed by officers. They also claim that work is in progress on both these projects.
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