Anantnag: Work on a proposed mini-secretariat here in Dooru area of Anantnag district has remained abandoned since 2018, months after the project was taken up for construction by the Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation (JKPCC).
The mini-secretariat was sanctioned in early 2018 during the tenure of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition government in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The project was touted to be aimed at saving money and time of people in the Dooru area by bringing administrative offices to their doorstep. The work on this project, worth around Rs 6 crore, was entrusted to the JKPCC, which started earth-moving work in April 2018.
“Some earth-cutting was done but later in September of the same year, the project was abandoned altogether. Since then, no attempt has been made to restart work on the project,” a local source told Kashmir Reader.
The locals that Kashmir Reader talked to said they were hoping that the mini-secretariat would do much for people of the area.
“Dooru is located at a distance of around 25 kilometers from district headquarters. We have to rush to Anantnag for the smallest of our concerns or issues, which need the attention of the district administration,” the locals said, adding that the mini-secretariat would not only have saved their time but their money as well.
Besides, Dooru has a huge catchment area and the completion of this mini-secretariat would have benefited the people living in far-flung areas.
The locals think that the abandonment of the project was a political decision. “The foundation stone was laid by the then minister of PDP, Farooq Andrabi, who happens to be a local. But after the fallout between PDP and BJP, the reins have been firmly in the centre’s hands. We can understand why the project was abandoned,” the locals said.
People in the area said they still hope that the project will be taken up afresh. “It will ultimately benefit the weaker sections of society, regardless of who sanctioned it or who constructed it,” the locals said.
The JKPCC officials cited lack of funding for the project as the reason for its abandonment. The Deputy General Manager (DGM) of the JKPCC for Anantnag, Ghulam Hussain Dar, told Kashmir Reader that the funds stopped coming for the project altogether.
“Around 25 lakh rupees were released to begin with, and the work conducted was worth around 39 lakh rupees. Since then, no money has been released for the project,” Dar said.
He said that he has taken the issue up with the administration time and again but nothing has been done. “I even tried to get the project listed under languishing projects list, but nothing has moved on that front,” he said.
Dar lamented that some contractors who worked on the project are yet to be paid their dues as well.

Suhail A Shah