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| 10-years on, artificial Tawi Lake project still incomplete | | Above Rs 50 crore spent but BJP’s ‘dream project’ nowhere in sight | | Masood Malik
Early Times Report
Jammu, Sept 5: Already having missed six deadlines and crores being spent till date, the much hyped artificial lake project on Tawi river still remains in limbo.
Envisaged during the government headed by Omar Abdullah in 2010 the lake missed its first deadline in 2012 followed by 5 others in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. Till date a whopping Rs 51.57 crore have been spent on its construction, but the project is yet to be completed due to various interventions at political and its construction levels.
As per the project plan, an auto-mechanical barrage has to be constructed on river Tawi, one kilometre downstream of main Tawi bridge. This will help create an artificial lake in Jammu city.
The 1,500-metre-long and 600-metre-wide artificial lake, a first-of-its-kind here, will give a new dimension to tourism in Jammu city, the officials said.
But the irony struck when the project became controversial as the then chief minister, late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, in the presence of then deputy chief minister Dr Nirmal Singh announced on May 15, 2015, that the lake project was not economically and technically feasible on the river.
Interestingly, the BJP, which was a part of the then state government kept on claiming that it is a dream project for the party and it will be completed as early as possible, but the ground situation contradicted its claims.
In phase-II of the project, beautification and embankment works were to be taken up under the Tawi River Front Development Project, for which a MoU had already been signed by Jammu Development Authority (JDA) with the Sabarmati River Front Development Corporation (SRFDC). A detailed project report has been prepared in this regard.
The artificial lake was considered first of its kind to give a new look to Jammu City and to boost tourism in Jammu province. The work on the project had started after the design prepared by Institute of Technology New Delhi was approved by the Central Water Commission of India, New Delhi. The project construction work of mechanically operated gated barrage of 370 meter long and 4 meter height was allotted to M/S GVR Infra Ltd. Hyderabad. The Department of Irrigation and Flood Control has been monitoring execution of work.
There is a feeling in the general public that the project was started in a hush-hush manner at the instance of some powerful ministers without proper model studies regarding behaviour of Tawi River which carries a lot of bed load in the shape of boulders, aggregate, silt and sand.
Project still being incomplete is making people believe that the administration is not that keen on carrying forward the project.
People of Jammu who voted various governments to power feel cheated and abandoned by the system. It seems that people of Jammu have lost faith. |
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