| Jora gets Rs 217.35 crore projects for Leh, forgets rest of J&K | | | Syed Junaid Hashmi
Jammu, Dec 8: Ministers of NC-Congress coalition government seems to have made region specific and constituency oriented decision making order of the day.
Minister for Urban Development Nawang Rigzin Jora has got four projects worth Rs. 217.35 crore under centrally sponsored Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small and Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) approved for Leh-Ladakh region from the Union Urban Development Ministry. These projects were cleared by State Level Sanctioning Committee (SLSC) on March 5, 2013.
The committee is headed by Secretary Housing and Urban Development. After the approval from SLSC, Urban development ministry submitted the project documents with Union Ministry. The Ministry pledged additional Central assistance of Rs. 195.61 crore for the implementation of these four projects in Leh-Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir. Of this huge amount, Rs. 97.80 crore was released as first instalment on April 18, 2013. These four projects included a Rs. 70.48 crore project for water supply, Rs. 76.53 crore for roads, Rs. 10.94 crore for solid waste management and Rs. 59.39 crore for sewerage. If the sources are to be believed, the projects have been conceived as well as submitted with Union Urban Development ministry for funding after Nawang Rigzin Jora took over as Minister for Urban Development in February 2013.
Though the scheme is meant for Small and Medium Towns, the Ministry choose Ladakh over other towns, of which most backward are located in Jammu region. Sources affirmed that no such scheme has either been conceived or proposed for Rajouri, Doda, Bhaderwah, Kishtwar, Ramban, Banihal, Chenani, Udhampur, Reasi and Akhnoor. The Ministry has been turning deaf ear to requests from these towns.
It needs to be highlighted that Nawang Rigzin Jora represents Ladakh constituency in the state legislature. Even when he was Tourism minister, Congress insiders maintain that allegations of him focussing merely on Leh-Ladakh surfaced time and again. Sources said that several delegations of tour operators and travel agents complained with Congress high command about the region specific and constituency oriented attitude of Jora. These include people from Kargil and Zanskar.
However, Jora's efforts are unlikely to bear fruit since the mandatory urban reforms as per the memorandum of agreement, submissions of utilization certificates and submissions of Independent Review and Monitoring Agency (IRMA), third party inspection reports have remained J&K's serious problem. State has repeatedly failed to adhere to the norms set-up by Union Urban Development Ministry. |
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