Early Times Report
Jammu, Feb 12: While Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Saturday laid the foundation stone for the Tawi Riverfront development project, the multi-crore artificial Tawi lake project still hangs in balance.
People of the Jammu region are anxiously waiting for the completion of the artificial Tawi lake project- which became victim of politics.
Since its beginning in the year 2009, this ambitious project is marred with delays and cancellations due to the biased attitude of those at the helm of the affairs.
People of the Jammu region have hailed the decision of the UT administration to start the Tawi Riverfront development project but they are more concerned about the artificial lake project which is a dream project for them.
In November 2021, the Jammu and Kashmir administration had set a fresh deadline of 2023 to complete the multi-crore artificial Tawi lake project in Jammu.
After missing the first target date in 2012, the contractor missed five other deadlines in 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, when the contractor stopped work, prompting authorities to cancel its project and order a probe.
Stating that the project has the potential to give a major facelift to Jammu city, Chief Secretary Arun Kumar Mehta on November 2021 had directed the department to speed up the execution of the project, so that the artificial pondage in the river is created by April next year.
After missing earlier deadlines, the Detailed Project Report (DPR) of diverting 13 nullah following in the river Tawi has been prepared.
The previous PDP-BJP government had declared it a priority project, but there has been no headway. The work started on the artificial lake and barrage, which are the components of the Tawi project, remains incomplete.
Former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed had announced the shelving of the artificial lake project on May 15, 2015, saying it was not feasible.
On September 26, 2017, the then Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh, who was holding the portfolio of Housing and Urban Development Department along with the plump Power Development Department, had met the then Union Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep Puri and sought his help for the Jammu Smart City and Tawi riverfront projects.
The government had prepared a detailed project report at an estimated cost of Rs 375.732 crore and submitted it to the Ministry of Water Resources.
While the detailed project report remains with the Ministry of Water Resources, no government reminders have gone to it to release the project. |
