Top officials’ nod to formulate strategy
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Nov 2: Passing strictures against the Tourism Department for not paying serious attention towards tourism promotion despite having immense potential particularly in Jammu region, High Court has directed the Tourism Secretary, Law Secretary and Managing Director of J&K Tourism Development Corporation to sit together and plan a common strategy instead of sitting in offices and spending time to find out accommodation of staff at Jammu and Srinagar during Darbar Move.
The direction has been passed in a petition seeking quashing of E-NIT dated March 27, 2019 regarding allotment of restaurants constructed by the Jammu and Kashmir Cable Car Corporation at the terminal points of Jammu Ropeway.
“The ropeway became operational on July 27, 2020, however, till date, the restaurants at three stations, which could generate income not only for the Corporation but even for the Government as well in the form of GST, could not be allotted”, Justice Rajesh Bindal observed, adding “this puts a serious question mark on the seriousness and capability of the officers concerned in planning and executing the project. This is fortified from another fact, which is in public domain. The project was planned in the year 1995. We are twenty five years down the line. The work started only in the year 2016 and still the same is not complete though it was to be completed in about thirty months”.
“Apparently there are no checks and review of the working of the officers. One needs to examine as to how much was the increase in the cost of project because of delays”, Justice Bindal remarked, adding “Jammu is the second most populous city of the Union Territory and it is famous for ancient temples and Hindu shrines. It is the most visited place in the Union Territory for being entry point to cave shrine of Mata Vaishnodevi. But the authorities have not been able to create any other tourist attraction at Jammu though there are lot of potentials available”.
“Drafting of a tender document with reference to the terms and conditions and the time when it should be issued, is certainly the work of experts in the field. Failure of the Corporation in not getting a successful bidder even after five efforts has certainly put a question mark as to whether there was application of mind before putting the restaurants in public domain for outsourcing or the effort was to cause loss to the exchequer and benefit private players”, High Court said, adding “apparently the project was not complete when the tenders were repeatedly issued with the same terms and conditions. As a result none or few had shown interest to participate”.
Justice Bindal further observed, “there is need to change the mindset from wasting the public money, causing loss to the exchequer and benefit the private players to work in larger public interest and generate more revenues so that the same can be used for creating more and better infrastructure”, adding “such types of projects are also required to be promoted by making these known to the tourists so that more and more persons visit the place”.
Stating that ropeway project in question connects three ancient temples in Jammu – Jamwant Gufa Peerkho, Mahamaya Temple and Bahu Fort Temple, Justice Bindal observed, “though the object behind the project was to boost pilgrimage tourism but the authorities have failed to achieve that objective as information about this project is hardly available. There is no website of the Corporation, on which information about any of its projects is available”, adding “the only information which could be retrieved about the Corporation is that it is involved in the manufacturing of basic iron and steel. Apparently transparency doesn’t suit them”.
“Information available on the website of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, is astonishing. The Corporation is a limited company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956. The date of incorporation being 28.11.1988. The authorized capital is Rs 50 crore whereas the paid up capital is Rs 23.57 crore. From the information available it is evident that it is not doing any business as the date of last Annual General Meeting is 12.11.2012 and the Balance Sheet filed with the authorities is for the period ending 31.03.2007”, High Court said, adding “even statutory returns are not being filed. Its status is Active No-Compliant”.
High Court further said, “if the information available is up to date, this shows the mindset of people, which is more towards defying than complying with law. Are the persons at the helm of affairs of the Corporation not aware of the penal provisions of the Companies Act, for not filing statutory returns, annual returns and the Balance Sheets? They can be prosecuted besides levy of personal penalties on the persons incharge of the affairs”, adding “there are certain more compliances to be made by the State Government company. Or they may be thinking that they are immune from prosecution and penalties”.
Justice Bindal said, “apparently a dead sleeping company was given the project. That is why it remained on papers for a long time and resulted in delayed execution. Strange is the fact that this Corporation, though the name suggests, was not involved in execution of two earlier projects of cable cars/rope ways in Jammu & Kashmir— Gulmarg Gandola and Patnitop”, adding “even website of the J&K Tourism Department does not have information about any of the cable car/rope way projects in Jammu & Kashmir although all have their own importance with reference to location, height and the facilities but none thought of promoting these for tourism”.
“We all know the reach of social media. Days of hard copies of brochures are gone. Prospective tourists visit websites, especially the Government websites, as these provide authentic information but we have failed. Again question is of mindset. Why we want to keep everything close to our chest? We are not playing card game. Let the people all around know about the tourism and adventure sports facilities available in Jammu & Kashmir”, Justice Bindal said, adding “it cannot be denied that tourism in Jammu & Kashmir is one of the major employment/revenue generator but our closed mind has failed us in exploiting this source to the optimum”.
Justice Bindal expected that the Tourism Department will make an extensive exercise to update the information, as on date and continue to do that regularly, on its website about various tourist destinations and other facilities available and also use other social media platforms to promote tourism in Jammu & Kashmir. “Let the world know that now we are different. In addition thereto, option for making bookings online for the cable car/ ropeway should be made available”, he said, adding “the J&K Tourism Development Corporation should make such facilities available on its website, making it quite feasible and less challenging for the potential tourists for making arrangements”.
“Tourists need to be guided regarding best weather to visit any particular area. One needs to keep in mind about growth of religious tourism also, hence, provide detailed information regarding that with proper guidance and package tours from Jammu or Srinagar”, High Court said, adding “plea of shortage of staff may be an eye wash if seen in the light of the fact the in Jammu & Kashmir Government employees with reference to the population are very high if compared with other States. Here we have about 3,600 per lakh of population whereas one of best governed State of Gujarat has about 830 per lakh of population “.
“With so much of strength of Government employees, we could have really made Jammu & Kashmir, a paradise on earth, but failed. There is nothing wrong, if the Government is creating job opportunities for its subjects but those who are given employment also have duty to justify the salary or the wages, they receive”, Justice Bindal further said, adding “we need to cultivate some work culture also, instead of shirking work or passing on the buck. Or may be the people run after Government jobs only for the reason that they will get paid without working”.
“Before parting with the order and seeing astonishing facts about a Government company and there being number of Government companies in Jammu & Kashmir, which may be just on papers and a drain on the public exchequer, information is required to be asked from the concerned departments through the Chief Secretary so that the public at large also come to know as how their hard earned money, contributed by way taxes to the Government, is being misused/wasted”, Justice Bindal said.
Accordingly, High Court directed that a copy of this order be sent to the Chief Secretary for information arranging the information to be furnished in court. “The Secretary, Tourism, Law Secretary and Managing Director of J&K Tourism Corporation should sit together and plan a common strategy and platform to promote tourism in Jammu & Kashmir instead of sitting in offices and remain busy in Durbar moves only and spend time to find out accommodation for its staff at Jammu and Srinagar”.
“A copy of this order be also sent to the Registrar of Companies, Jammu, which has failed in discharge of his duty. It is to enable him to examine the level of violations of provisions of Companies Act, by the Corporation and the action to be taken against the persons incharge of the affairs”, Justice Bindal directed.
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