Adil Lateef
SRINAGAR, Feb 28: Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) building that was damaged in an encounter this month at Sempora in Pampore area of South Kashmir will be restored to its original position after six months.
Director EDI, Mohammad Ismail Parray, told Excelsior that building as well as equipments have suffered massive damage in the three-day long firefight. “Given the extent of damage, it would take at least 6 months for us to restore the EDI in its original position. We will give it a new shape which would be much better than the previous one,” he added.
The Director said that a committee of engineers has been constituted by Chief Engineer Roads and Buildings (R&B) Kashmir on their request to calculate the estimates of losses and estimates of restoration. “The committee has been constituted and it would calculate the losses and accordingly the Detailed Project Report (DPR) would be submitted to the Government for approval,” said the EDI Director.
The Sempora campus of EDI was inaugurated by former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on October 15, 2009 and its foundation stone was laid by his predecessor, Ghulam Nabi Azad on October 22, 2007. The campus came at a cost of Rs. 17 crore including civil works, air conditioning, furniture and other works.
The Director further said that the entire campus of the EDI is insured worth Rs. 70 crore and the insurance team from Chandigarh has already arrived here. “Fortunately, we have an insured campus and we hope that the insurance company would help us to a good extent. The team has arrived today and they are assessing the losses on their part,” he said.
Sources, meanwhile, said that the EDI officials in their report to police have said that series of items including 16 mobile phones, pen drives, hard drives, laptops, Bluetooth headsets, purses, lunch boxes, jackets, memory cards and passport size photographs are missing. The sources also said that the management of the EDI has “no issues” if the Government intends to place the campus under security cover.
Meanwhile, the Director EDI further said that they are resuming the class work from Monday and have informed all the students about it. “We have shifted to hostel building for office work as well as class work,” he said.
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