The Hon’ble Chief Minister
Jammu and Kashmir Union Territory
Subject: Urgent Attention Required: Revival of Stalled Development Projects in Jammu and Kashmir
Dear Sir,
Your kind attention is invited to the following few lines:
Our many development projects have ended in a fiasco. Some of these are described as follows:
1) Chrar-I-Sharif Development Project:
In the year 1995, the Chrar-I-Sharif shrine of the most venerated Sufi Saint of Kashmir, Hazrat Shaikh Noor-ud-din (RA) (built in 1460 AD), was burnt along with the surrounding age-old town comprising over a thousand houses and two hundred stores during the combat between militants and armed forces. Some restoration works were executed up to 1999, whereafter the Chrar-I-Sharif Development Project was started.
I was posted as its Project Officer when three ministers, namely Mr Abdul Rahim Rather, Late Abdul Qayum, and late Mohiuddin Shah, took a personal interest in getting the works executed at a fast pace after overcoming all bottlenecks like court cases, etc. However, it took two years to obtain a loan of Rs 25 crore from HUDCO, to be returned after 15 years in easy installments with little interest. HUDCO would release the sanctioned amount in installments after receiving the utilization certificates for the previous releases.
On the release of their first installment of Rs 5 crore, previous liabilities were cleared. New works, such as the development of a park on the west side of the shrine and other ancillary items of work for the Chrar-I-Sharif Model Town, were taken up. When the work was in full swing, a change of guard took place in the State Government, and as usual, old projects suffered in new setups. The same happened to this project as well.
2) Inland Water Transport Project from Pampore to Chattabal:
The project was formulated by the Srinagar Development Authority in 1997-99, retaining M/S Rites of international repute as consultants when I was posted as its Project Director. A detailed project report was prepared for execution, which would reduce traffic pressure on some roads of Srinagar city and serve as a tourist attraction, as most of the heritage sites of Srinagar are located on either bank of the river Jhelum.
In earlier days, water transport was the only means of transport, and tourists would buy arts and crafts of Kashmir from the showrooms located on the riverbanks. Thus, the tourist trade on the riverbanks would also be revived.
The government was very enthusiastic about executing the project, but only signboards at various boarding sites were erected, and a couple of small boats were kept at Zero Bridge with heavy fare charges. The project envisaged the launch of 50-seater motorboats for passengers and 25-seater motorboats for tourists. The Project Report has been gathering dust on the shelves of the I&FC Department for 24 years. It would add a feather to the cap of the present setup if the project is executed.
3) Skew Bridge on River Jhelum near Presentation Convent School:
The motorable bridge was constructed in 2017 up to the deck level at a whopping cost of Rs 12 crore. Suddenly, one fine day, it was decided on flimsy grounds by the agencies to provide the decking of a footbridge instead of a motorable one. Steel girders were procured, and steel decking with roofing was built, defeating the very purpose for which such a huge investment was made.
A PIL in the High Court convinced the then Chief Justice that the bridge should come up as a motorable bridge, as reported by the amicus curiae. Meanwhile, it is reported that even the pertinent file has been misplaced in the High Court, and the huge investment made for the construction of the motorable bridge has gone to waste.
There is still time to get the decking replaced with the designed RCC beam and slab decking to ease the pressure on the roads of the city centre.
4) New Ganderbal Hydroelectric Project (NGHEP):
In 1992, the NGHEP was taken up for building its infrastructure when M/S Thapar Consultants had already prepared its DPR, and I was posted as its Executive Engineer. The project is very near the city and has the advantage of incurring minimum transmission losses, besides having the land acquisition process completed and most of the infrastructure built.
The proposed portal of water supply to the Rangil Water Supply Project would boost the city’s water supply. Every now and then, we hear that the project will be taken up and completed within the fixed time, but what is holding the execution of the project is not understood. Perhaps political disturbances have been responsible, but the present setup is capable of delivering the goods if they want.
5) Solid Waste Disposal Scheme for Srinagar City:
The DPR for the scheme was prepared by UEED in the 1980s and handed over to SMC for its implementation. One of the important components of the project was the installation of a mechanical compost plant at Noorbagh, to be built during the first five years. Until then, the Achan site was proposed to be used for sanitary landfill.
The compost plant was shelved, and instead, about 600 kanals of Achan wetland were used to create a mountain of untreated solid waste, resulting in an obnoxious stench all around the area, including SKIMS, and extending even to Shahr-i-Khas. The compost generated would enrich the soil used for agricultural purposes, as is in vogue in other metropolitan cities of the country.
Like this, there are many more projects that could make a public impact besides providing relief to the suffering masses due to decades of disturbances in our region.
Regards,
Er Mohammad Ashraf Fazili
Former Chief Engineer and Chairman, IEI, J&K SAC
Email: sh*************@***il.com