Early Times Report
JAMMU, Jan 11: State government has virtually buried the enquiry report submitted to it about the wasteful expenditure incurred by Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation (JKPCC) to build the Chief Minister's residence in 2001.
JKPCC, which was in a hurry to start the construction of the residence on Gupkar Road in 2001 incurred a wasteful expenditure of Rs 2.45 cr and later abandoned the work. Reports said that on the verbal instructions of the then Chief Minister, Farooq Abdullah and the then Chief Secretary, Ashok Jaitly, JKPCC started the work without adhering to any formalities.
It had not entered into a formal agreement with the Public Works Department (PWD) besides not raking approval of Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA). JKPCC stopped the work after a year and half because of objections from LAWDA. Interestingly, LAWDA had claimed that in January 2003 they demolished the building on Gupkar Road, but the unfinished building still stands there.
After work stopped on Gupkar Road, next Chief Minister got a government building renovated for Rs 6.5 crore on Residency Road. When Omar Abdullah became Chief Minister, government got his allotted residence on Gupkar Road renovated for Rs 8.7 crore. Earlier, Ex-Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad had ordered the renovation of another government building, the Tara Niwas, the palace of the wife of the late Maharaja Hari Singh.
The renovation cost the then government Rs 9 crore. When Azad was to shift to his new residence, he was voted out by PDP in the Assembly. Omar Abdullah handed over the palace to the state's Hospitality and Protocol Department to use it as a VVIP guest house. |
