Govind Sharma
JAMMU, Apr 14: The people of Jammu are feeling cheated as the prestigious tourism project of Jammu titled ‘Musical Fountain with Light and Sound Show’ at Bagh-e-Bahu has no power backup plan and every other day, the show has to be abandoned due to sudden power cut/failure.
Official sources told Excelsior that Musical Fountain with Light and Sound Show at Bagh-e-Bahu was one of the prestigious projects of Jammu & Kashmir Government that were mooted to attract the tourists in Jammu but the blunder done by the officials associated with the project is discouraging the people to go for the light and sound shows at Bagh-e-Bahu.
Sources said the project was constructed under the Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP) at an approved cost of Rs 1000.55 lakh. They said the project was slated to be completed in all respects by March 2020 but it missed several deadlines fixed by the Government and was only completed in January this year, following which it was inaugurated in February by Lt Governor Manoj Sinha.
“The officials associated with the project had a long time to think and plan on all aspects of the project but yet they missed to include the ‘power backup’ in the original Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the project,” sources said, while adding that the electrical engineers, though, had sought a special power transmission line from the Power Development Department (PDD) for the project but the latter did not consider their request.
Sources stated that while executing every important project, power backup plan is given special attention but in this case, where in three different agencies-Tourism Department, Power Development Department and Jal Shakti Department were working in tandem to complete the project, exclusion of power backup plan in the original DPR raises questions on the abilities of the officials associated with the project.
“No doubt, the project is attracting local people in large numbers but many a times, due to sudden power cut/failure, the show gets interrupted and sometimes it has to be abandoned,” sources alleged. They informed that price of a ticket for the show is Rs 100 for an adult and Rs 50 for a child but in case the show has to be ceased due to power breakdown, no refund is made to the visitors who feel cheated. The impression which these visitors take with them discourages other people to visit and see the show, they added.
When contacted, concerned Executive Engineer (Civil) Suresh Khajuria said that they have already made a project for installation of a Gen Set of the capacity of 1250 Kilowatt and also got Government sanction for the same. “Within days, the tendering will be done for the Gen Set and hopefully, it will be installed and made functional within a month or two,” he added.
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