Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Feb 26: Several Development Authorities constituted by the Housing and Urban Development Department have yet not started functioning as a result of which there is no headway in achieving the objectives of the Jammu and Kashmir Development Act, 1970.
The Section 3 of the Jammu and Kashmir Development Act states: “The Government may, by notification in the Gazette, declare any area to be local area for purposes of this Act and constitute therefore an Authority to be called the Development Authority”.
Likewise, Section 4 of the Act read: “The Authority shall consist of 9 or more members including a Chairman, all of whom shall be appointed by the Government on such terms and conditions as the Government may specify and members of Authority shall hold office for such time as the Government may by notification determine”.
In view of these provisions of the J&K Development Act, the Housing and Urban Development Department through different notifications constituted several new Development Authorities last year. Moreover, the already existing Development Authorities were reconstituted through proper notifications.
While the already existing Katra Development Authority, Udhampur Development Authority and Kathua Development were reconstituted, the Development Authorities for Akhnoor and Reasi and other areas were also framed through different notifications. The concerned Deputy Commissioner, Additional Deputy Commissioner and Sub-Divisional Magistrate were made Member Secretary of these Development Authorities.
However, despite the lapse of several months neither the already existing Development Authorities nor the new ones have started functioning to achieve the mandate behind the J&K Development Act, official sources told EXCELSIOR.
Some of the officers, who are the members of these Authorities, on the condition of anonymity, said, “even formal meeting of any of these Authorities has not been convened till date and the concerned Member Secretary of each Authority is responsible for the same as it is duty of Member Secretary to prepare the agenda and approach the Chairman for convening the meeting”.
“Due to non-functioning of these Development Authorities, the areas which were brought under their jurisdiction by way of formal notifications have remained deprived of the proper development”, sources said, adding “with the constitution of Development Authorities the Municipal Committees and Municipal Councils have also stopped looking after the needs of notified areas of these Authorities”, sources further said.
As per the Development Act, these Authorities are required to promote and secure the development of the local areas for which they were constituted but in the absence of any formal meeting these Authorities have failed to provide any benefit to the people of the notified areas.
“These Development Authorities are required to prepare Master Plan and Zonal Development Plans to ensure holistic development of notified areas”, sources said, adding “as per the provisions of the Development Act, these Authorities have the power to acquire, hold, manage and dispose of land and other property, to carry out building, engineering and other operations, to execute works in connection with supply of water and electricity, disposal of sewerage and other services and amenities etc”.
In response to a question, sources further said, “even no grants have been kept at the disposal of newly constituted Development Authorities despite the fact that the Act makes it clear that Government may, make such grants, advances and loans to the Authority, as it may deem necessary, for the performance of the functions of the Authority”.
Some of the experts in town planning are of the opinion that instead of constituting these Development Authorities by the Housing and Urban Development Department, stress should have been laid on holistic development of notified areas through the respective Municipal Councils and Municipal Committees.
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