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| Jammu has to wait to see Smart City project getting executed | | Latest union budget allocated larger chunk on salaries, smart cities a least priority | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
Jammu, Mar 12: The government seems to be in no mood to execute the smart city proposal for the twin cities- Jammu and Srinagar in the coming time as it has, as per sources, not allotted specific budget for the project.
As per the reports coming to the fore, out of Rs 30,757 crore allotted to the Jammu & Kashmir Union Territory in the Union Budget of 2020-21, only Rs 3678 crore will be spent on development projects. And a majority of the chunk will be spent on salaries and perks of the government employees. Reports inform that the funds allocated for the Smart city proposal have lapsed and no fresh demand of grants has been made by the government so far.
On November 7, 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had sanctioned a whooping Rs 80K crore package for Jammu and Kashmir’s various developmental projects.
Out of the total sanctioned amount, Rs 500 crore each were sanctioned for smart cities in Jammu as well as in Srinagar. However, four years down the line , as per the official documents, not even one percent of the funds have been utilised on ground- reflecting that the smart city promise was a big joke done to the people of the state.
If sources within the government are to be believed, the Smart City proposal was dumped by the government and there were least measures being taken to get the vital project out from the cold storage.
The central government, said official sources, recently sought the status report of the smart city proposal and when the dismal progress was found, the JK administration was censured over the inordinate delay being done so far. “There were political considerations in place in the past. The PDP BJP regime was non- seriousness over making the project a success story and give people all the facilities they deserve in a smart city. Unfortunately, not even a single lane was tuned into a smarter one, leave alone turning a capital in its entirety smart,” rues an official who wished not to be named.
Pertinently, the then State Government vide Order No.1081-GAD dated August 21, 2017 constituted Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) as Companies Limited by shares named as Jammu Smart City Limited and Srinagar Smart City Limited under the Companies Act, 2013 with authorized share capital of Rs 10 lakh, equity share of Rs 10 each and paid up capital of Rs 10 lakh for both the companies for implementation of smart city development projects.
Meanwhile, at present, when the budget for the Jammu and Kashmir Union territory has been allocated, the much hyped smart city project wouldn’t be government’s priority for now and there are scores of other developmental projects that had to be kept in limbo due to the non- availability of the funds. The funds allocated under the latest budget, as per the official reports, will be spent on those under execution projects and there has not been any word coming out about the smart city proposals and the execution of the same in near future. |
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