Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 8: Alleging cheating and deceit with Jammuites in abandoning the Artificial Lake Project on Tawi river, Jammu Province People Forum (JPPF) has accused the BJP the coalition partner in the Mehbooba Mufti headed State Government for playing with the public sentiments simply to enjoy lust of power.
Addressing a meeting president Pavittar Singh Bhardwaj said in the democratic set up it won’t be that easy to abandon a prestigious mega tourism project conceived by the then Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad aimed at abetting and improving the deteriorating Jammu tourism to boost its economy, was a sincere effort to make Jammu an independent tourist destination. Started during 2010 by the previous Government aiming its completion during 2013 the project about 80 % complete with an expenditure of about 87 crores was nearing completion except for construction of 17 diversion channels to divert the dirty nallah water and municipal waste from the neat lake water remained incomplete for want of funds till the new PDP-BJP coalition was sworn in during 2014.
The public including civil society, NGOs, traders and different religious, social and political organizations kept on demanding and pressing the Government for early completion and commissioning of their dream project. The left over balance part of the project could have been completed within two months provided the Government sincerely desired so. It was a word from late Chief Minister Mufti Mohd Sayeed on March 15 in 2015 during a tourism meeting at Jammu in which he had rejected the Lake Project on the ground that it was not viable. Despite huge public resentment there has been no work since then on this project which remained stalled.
By dint of recent statement of Dy CM Nirmal Singh the Artificial Lake Project on Tawi river has been abandoned and shelved, which is a blow on the dignity of Jammuites and a hard hit to the survival of more than five lakh tourism dependent souls. He further said that in case the decision of abandoning is not revoked then the public will come on streets and the government will be responsible.
When out of power, the BJP right from 2010 were projecting themselves as the Jammuites leaders and carried out protest and demonstrations for early completion of the Artificial Lake Project and there was no question of viability at that time, but once they (BJP) got elected as MLA and ministers they took U turn and abandoned the project deliberately. He further said Jammuites had voted enmass in the favour of BJP with high expectations to end the discriminations with Jammu but they betrayed the mandate, which is a shameful act.
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