Revised Master Plan for Sonamarg
Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Dec 10: As the Government and Army in terms of previous directions of court submitted the timeline of revised Master Plan (MP) and the land under the occupation of Army in famous tourist resort Sonamarg, the High Court has sought appearance of top officials of Tourism and Housing Departments in order to assist the court on next date of hearing.
The court last week in view of expiring the present Master Plan of Sonamarg resort had sought information from the Government for the new draft Master Plan and also had sought information from the Army with regard to the land in their occupation.
The Government as also the Army while complying with the directions of the court submitted their affidavit. The Division Bench of Chief Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice M A Chowdhary directed the Commissioner Secretaries of Tourism and Housing Department and the Deputy Commissioner Ganderbal to appear in person either physically or through hybrid mode to assist the court properly on December 16.
The Army in its affidavit stated that 1397 kanals of land is in its occupation as requisitioned land and hired land in Upper Garrison, lower Garrison, HAWS upper, HAWS lower, Base Camp etc. The Chief Town Plan Kashmir on behalf of the Government submitted that with regard to the new Master Plan the matter has been taken up with the Tourism Department for preparation of revised Master Plan and the department shall notify the extended area, if any, of Sonmarg Development Authority in the first instance.
The CTP added that the Town Planning Organization thereafter will start the preparation of Master Plan, the procedure and the timeline for formulation of GIS based Master Plan 2025-45 shall commence after the extended local area for Master Plan is notified by the Tourism Department with the consultation of various stakeholders.
“The RFP shall be prepared taking feedback from various stakeholders viz Forest Department, Wildlife Department being in the vicinity of forest and wildlife areas and Revenue Department, Remote Sensing Department etc for inviting technical and financial bids from consultants for preparation of Master Plan on outsource basis”, CTP submitted.
The court has been informed that the Master Plan shall be put in public domain by the Tourism Department for a period of 60 days for objections and suggestions from the various stakeholders and general public as per the provision of the Development Act.
“The final Master Plan shall be framed after incorporating the recommendations of the committee and shall be submitted to the Government for its approval. So far as the timeline is concerned it is for the tourism department to finalize the boundaries and thereafter the Town Planning Organization, Kashmir will provide the technical support, for that it will take at least one year for its completion subject to stages are completed within their timelines”, read the affidavit
It is noted that the present Master Plan of resort is expiring in the month of June next year.
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