UEED fails to meet timeline for sewerage scheme
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, July 23: Astonishing it may sound but it is a fact that despite lapse of nine years the much-needed Master Plan for picturesque Patnitop, a major tourist destination of Jammu region, has yet not come out of the official files of the Tourism Department. Moreover, the Urban Environment Engineering Department (UEED) has failed to meet the time-line for making sewerage scheme functional even after funding of the project by Jammu and Kashmir Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation (JKIDFC).
For inordinate delay on both these vital aspects, the concerned authorities are unjustifiably putting blame on the situation caused by the spread of Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that the process to prepare new Master Plan for Patnitop was set into motion on September 17, 2011 when an agreement was signed between Patnitop Development Authority and Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT), Hyderabad. After several years long exercise the draft of the Master Plan was put in the public domain for inviting objections and suggestions in early 2017.
During the course of inviting objections and suggestions, it came to the fore that Khasra Numbers of the land proposed for different activities were not mentioned in the draft of the Master Plan as neither Patnitop Development Authority authorities paid any serious attention towards this vital aspect nor the CEPT sought this vital data from the Revenue Department.
Thereafter began the process of redrafting the draft Master Plan and then again the document was put in the public domain for investing fresh objections and suggestions, sources said.
All the objections and suggestions along with the comments of the concerned authorities were then submitted to the CEPT for incorporation in the revised draft and submission to the Patnitop Development Authority for onward placement before the State Government for approval.
“However, since then there is no progress as a result of which much-needed Master Plan has failed to come out of the official files of the Tourism Department, which has administrative control over the Patnitop Development Department”, sources said, adding “now it is being claimed that the team of CEPT was scheduled to visit few months back but because of restrictions imposed due to COVID-19 pandemic, the same had to be deferred”.
“How the Tourism Department can take the excuse of COVID-19 pandemic for the inordinate delay of nine years in the finalization of the Master Plan”, sources asked, adding “in the absence of the Master Plan planned, comprehensive and holistic development of the main tourist destination of Jammu region cannot be ensured”.
It is pertinent to mention here that Patnitop has already witnessed unplanned growth over the years in the absence of Master Plan and this aspect has also been dealt with by the High Court, which has even directed the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to look into the encroachments taken place at this tourist destination during the past many years.
Moreover, the Urban Environment Engineering Department (UEED) has failed to meet the timeline for completion of sewerage scheme for Patnitop, which was approved by the High Powered Committee under Languishing Projects Scheme.
The High Powered Committee in its meeting held on September 8, 2018 while approving the sewerage scheme for Patnitop at a cost of Rs 11.34 crore had fixed the timeline of March 2019 for its completion in all respect.
However, more than one year after missing the deadline the Urban Environment Engineering Department, which functions under the administrative control of Housing and Urban Development Department, has failed to make the scheme functional.
“The civil work has already been completed but the machinery for the plant is yet to be procured by the department and the concerned authorities are not in a position to specify the time-frame for installation of machinery”, sources said while disclosing that the sewerage scheme will connect around 80 hotels and guest houses at Patnitop for scientific disposal of sewage.
Again the situation created by COVID-19 pandemic is being held responsible for the delay in procurement of machinery. “How the concerned authorities can put blame on restrictions due to Coronavirus for not meeting the deadline of March 2019 despite the fact that lockdown started only in the month of March this year”, sources asked.
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