TRAL: Construction of a new mini-secretariat building in Tral, Pulwama district, has recently resumed after a string of hold-ups that have hobbled the project for close to three years.
Meant to curtail the cost and travel time to district headquarters Pulwama, the mini-secretariat was sanctioned in 2017. An amount of Rs 7 crore was earmarked for the project. However, it took seven months to finalise just the location for the building. Interdepartmental tussles were said to be behind the delay.
“No government department wanted to part with its land. Finally, the horticulture department spared some 16 kanals of land for the project,” a source in the Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation (JKPCC) told Kashmir Reader.
This first hurdle crossed, the construction work was started by JKPCC in April 2018. It did not continue for long. Scarcity of funds was now the problem.
“We were promised 1 crore rupees in the first week, but no money was released. Even after the work done amounted to nearly 22 lakh rupees, the contractors remained unpaid,” the JKPCC source shared.
More hurdles kept coming up even after the funds started pouring in steadily. Now the contractor for the project started showing laxity in resuming the work.
“We had to threaten him of blacklisting in order to get him to work,” General Manager of JKPCC for Pulwama, Masood Ahmad Gangoo, told Kashmir Reader.
After the contractor started work, Kashmir came to a grinding halt following revocation of Article 370 on August 5. Work on the project was put to halt once again.
Gangoo said that the work has now started again. “I just hope that there are no more roadblocks for the project and the funds keep coming in to ensure timely completion,” Gangoo said with cautious optimism.

Suhail A Shah