Mudassir Kuloo
Srinagar, Nov 12: The governor administration is unhappy over slow progress of the developmental projects in Kashmir.
An official document from the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir’s office reveals that the governor administration was keen to complete the developmental projects in Srinagar.
“…firm decisions need to be taken on ground, so that these projects do not go languishing,” the document reads.
Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Baseer Ahmad Khan, recently held a meeting followed the Governor Satya Pal Malik’s concern over slow pace of the works.
Khan directed the departments to expedite the developmental works
In the meeting, District Development Commissioner Srinagar raised the issue of traffic congestion, infrastructure gaps in education, health, and power infrastructure.
“The DC explained on the lenient execution of works by departments,” the document reads.
There have been many projects awaiting completion for years.
On the directives of the governor, several departments have also framed committees to monitor the schemes and projects on monthly basis for their timely completion.
The committees have been directed to review the progress of projects on monthly basis to gauge the pace of progress.
As per the official details of Planning, Development and Monitoring Department, 2,323 projects are languishing in the state.
The highest number of development projects-1636 are pending in Public Works Department, followed by Public Health Engineering Department-243, Rural Development Department-147, Education-114, and Health-105.
The Centre has also reprimanded the state over slow pace of developmental works.
For instance, the Centre has told the state that funds for the future will only be released if the works are completed in set targets in PMGSY.
An official document reveals that pack of works under the scheme is below the national average.
“For the next seven months, the state would require to construct roads at an average rate of 10 Km per day,” the document reads.
Expressing concern over slow pace of works, Union Secretary for Rural Development Department has written to state government to achieve the target by March 2019.
The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) and its National Rural Road Development Agency (NRRDA) also reprimanded the state government for slow pace of progress on the pending projects and asked the state to focus on balance habitations, particularly in its nine districts, which have less than 40 percent connectivity.
According to a report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, headed by senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, tabled in the Rajya Sabha, at least 22 per cent of the Prime Minister’s Rs 80,000-crore development package has been released to the state government.
The report said the progress on implementing the PM’s development package had been slow.
