Suhail Bhat
SRINAGAR, Dec 22: The construction works of the Mini-Secretariats in Tangmarg area of North Kashmir’s Baramulla district and Tral area of Pulwama district has been suspended due to paucity of funds.
Officials associated with the project told Excelsior that there has been no headway in the project for last 3 years due to shortage of funds and they are pursuing the Government to list it as a languishing project.
To ease the people’s woes, the Government started the construction of a Mini Secretariat in the year 2012 so that all the departments can work jointly under a single roof. The work was handed over to Jammu and Kashmir Project Construction Corporation (JKPCC) with a project cost of Rs 41 crores but the scarcity of funds marred the project. “We have only erected the skeletal structure of two floors and rest is yet to be done. The funds have dried up. The completion of the project will depend on the flow of funds,” an official said.
Locals, however, lamented that they were expecting speedy redressal of their grievance with the construction of the Mini Secretariat in their area but an alleged Government has let them down. “We were expecting that the time consumption in inter-department dealings would be cut down by bringing the departments in proximity to each other but authorities that did not happen,” Ghulam Mohammad, a resident said, adding, they were facing numerous hardships as they have to visit the Government departments located in different areas.
The locals also charged Government with showing the indifferent attitude towards the issue as the construction work has been left midway without any reasons. “The construction company completed the first floor of the building by the end of 2013 but left it without any reason. After the construction work was left, various people are using the incomplete structure for different purposes: Some people park their vehicles on the ground floor of the building and others play cards on its first story, “a local said, adding the place was frequented by the antisocial elements these days.
Deputy Manager JKPCC, Zulfikar Parray, told Excelsior that scarcity of funds has hampered the project and assured speedy completion of the pending work. “In order to ensure smooth flow of funds we have asked the Government to place it under the languishing projects,” he said.
Work on another Mini-Secretariat in South Kashmir’s Tral area which was approved in 2017 has been put on halt as the funds for the project have completely dried up.
With an objective to reduce inter-departmental hassles and save time of people by bringing them in proximity to each other, the project was approved in July 2017 and scheduled to be completed in one year.
Subsequently, the project was handed over to Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation (JKPCC) with an allocation of Rs 7 crore. However, the project hit several roadblocks right from the onset that hampered its culmination.
Shortly after the project was sanctioned, it struck its first roadblock in the form of non-availability of land. “No land was available for its construction. After pursuing the matter with different Government and non-government parties for seven months, the Horticulture Department granted around 16-kanals of land for the project. No other department showed interest,” an official associated with the project said.
The construction work started in 2018, but never proceeded at even pace. “The construction work was started after the Government assured release of funds in the first week. We continued the foundation work for one month and reduced the pace of work after funds were not received against the work done. The project never received funds throughout. Lack of funding has finally forced us to suspend the work,” an official at the JKPCC said.
He added that the pace of work got hit following last year’s lockdown imposed after the annulment of Article-370. “The work was started thereafter, but has not been satisfying in any sense. I presume only 30 percent of the work has been executed on the project, so far,” a local told Excelsior, adding that work has been suspended for the last several months now.
Meanwhile, the local residents showed dismay over stopping the construction work. They maintained that people were expecting speedy redressal of their grievance with the construction of the Mini Secretariat in their area as it would cut down travel time and cost for the people living in Tral and neighbouring areas to district headquarters in Pulwama, which is over 26 Kilometres from the main town.
“We were expecting that all our matters will be settled under one roof but the callous approach from the authorities has wasted the initiative,” Riyaz Ahmad, a resident said, continuing that they face numerous difficulties as they have to visit Government departments located in different areas for a simple work. Deputy General Manager (DGM) of JKPCC for Pulwama district, Masood Ahmad Gangoo, said that the work has been put on a halt again due to
lack of funds.
The project, as per Gangoo, has received Rs one crore in the beginning and nothing after that. “We have a liability towards the contractor and we could not clear that,” he said.
He said that the JKPCC wanted to put the project in the languishing projects list and were hopeful. “The work remains on a complete halt as of now. But we are expecting it to be included in the languishing projects,” Gangoo said.
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