Deputy Chief Minister Dr Nirmal Kumar Singh today said that government has framed a comprehensive policy for effective implementation of flagship housing, sanitation and civic programmes to make Jammu and Kashmir a model state of the country.Winding up the discussion on Demands for Grants of the Housing and Urban Development Departments (HUDD) in the Legislative Assembly today, the Deputy Chief Minister said that Jammu and Kashmir has witnessed massive surge in the urban population in recent past with twin capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar accounting for 60% of urban population.“The Housing & Urban Development Department is fully geared to meet the challenge. Revised Master Plan of Srinagar – 2035 has been placed on the public domain and is likely to be notified shortly, while as Revised Master Plan 2032 of Jammu City, Udhampur and Katra towns have been approved and an exercise for preparation of Zonal plans is also being undertaken simultaneously by hiring professionals”, he said.He further informed that Master Plans for 24 towns of the State are also at different stages of preparation/notification.The Deputy Chief Minister, while referring to Union Government’s Smart City Mission, said that proposals for both the capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar have been approved by MoUD, GoI under the initiative.
He said that the proposal covering 159 projects through different modes of funding viz. Convergence, Grant/Equity and PPP involving over Rs 7453.00 crore (Rs 3815 crore for Srinagar Smart City and Rs 3638 crore for Jammu Smart City) are being taken up under the Mission to glorify the beauty and heritage character of the twin cities. He added that the projects envisage area based and pan city solutions development with maximum thrust on upgrading living standards of the citizens and harnessing tourism potential.“The project shall be completed within a period of 5 years and Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVs) for both Jammu and Srinagar Smart Cities have been registered under Companies Act 2013 as “Jammu Smart City Limited” and “Srinagar Smart City Limited” with Ministry of Corporate Affairs, GoI”, he said and added that the CEOs for both the SPVs have been engaged.Dr Singh said that process of engagement of Key Managerial Functionaries and Project Management Consultancy (PMC) has been initiated. “Once PMC is engaged implementation will set into motion.1st instalment of Central Share amounting to Rs 195.00 crore for each Smart City is likely to be received from the GoI soon,” he informed.
Giving further details, Dr Singh said “To improve urban infrastructure, GoI has very kindly consented to our request and extended Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT), in relaxation of the criteria of population of at least 1 lakh, to five cities of Jammu, Srinagar, Anantnag, Leh & Kargil.”The Deputy Chief Minister further said that 58 projects have been approved under AMRUT in State Annual Action Plans (SAAP) at an allocation of Rs 593.05 crore on sharing pattern of 90:10 between Centre and State. “We have requested the GoI to take more towns under the Scheme,” he said.With reference to the prestigious Tawi Riverfront Project, Dr Singh said that the DPR for 3.5 Km from Gujjar Nagar Bridge to 4th bridge at Bhagwati Nagar at a cost of Rs 396.5225 crore has been prepared and a pilot stretch of 1.5 Km from 4th bridge at Bhagwati Nagar to Bikram Chowk bridge is being taken up in 1st phase at a cost of Rs 140.89 crore.Briefing about other components of the project, he said development of Jammu Habitat Centre, as an left bank extension of first phase of Tawi River Front Project, envisages to develop the Ware House, Jammu as a Commercial-cum-Cultural Complex by way of construction of Institutional Complexes, Commercial Complexes, Hotel sites, Multiplex, shopping Mall sites and Open Air Theatres.“Hari Singh Park will be right bank extension of the first phase of Tawi River Front Project”, he added.
Government is also committed to restore the pristine glory of world famous Dal Lake and making all-out efforts in this regards.“To maintain the clean surface of the lake, on an average every year 100000 cum of wet weed is removed from Dal and Nageen Lake relieving it of excessive loads of nutrients trapped in the weed. LAWDA has also launched a massive operation for removal of lily patches by engaging skilled labours. Government is also in the process to procure the machinery with appropriate technology especially for cleaning of Dal-Nageen Lake and outsourcing of cleaning of Dal Lake under PPP Mode by engaging a global expert,” he informed.He further elaborated that the Dole Demb project has been approved at a cost of Rs 29.50 crore for realignment of 380 houseboats. Similarly, development work at Rakh-e-Arth housing colony for rehabilitation of Dal dwellers has also been paced up.
With an aim to address Urban Poverty Alleviation, Dr Singh said that the focus of the department is to provide skill training with placement to the urban youth in potential trades through the Skill Training Provider institutes registered with NSDC/SSC.“As many as 87 institutes have been empanelled by the department and sponsoring is being made to achieve a target of 6000 Self-Employment Units, 1000 during 2017-18, with credit linkage and admissible interest subsidy,” he said.The Deputy Chief Minister further said that the project of Modernization/Construction of Multilevel Parking at General Bus Stand, Jammu, costing Rs 213.00 crore has already been taken up for execution under EPC mode by JDA.“The project envisages creating facilities for ISBT with parking of 80 buses, multi-level car parking of 1312 cars and 177 two-wheelers, the commercial area for 12418 sq. m. and rehabilitation of 165 kiosks including allied facilities. It will be fully functional in 2019,” he added.He said that Mechanized Parking Lots in Lal Chowk, Srinagar, and City Chowk, Jammu stand completed while 8 more Multi-Tier Parking at different identified places have also been approved under AMRUT.
To ease the traffic congestion in the twin capital cities, installation of Intelligent Traffic Light System (64 in Jammu City and 31 in Srinagar City) has been taken up at an approved cost of Rs 34.00 crore, he informed.Dr Singh said that 25 cities/towns, 12 in Jammu province and 13 in Kashmir have been selected under Phase I of PMAY-HFA (Urban) Mission. “Under Beneficiary Led Construction (BLC), 10719 houses for construction (New/Enhancement) have been sanctioned by GoI and their implementation is under progress and recently DPRs covering construction of 5021 houses have also been submitted to GoI for approval,” he informed.He said that through ‘In situ slum Redevelopment and Affordable Housing in partnership verticals’, the government is trying to make cities and towns slum-free adding 25 Cities/Towns have been approved in Phase–I.Under Deen Dayal Antodaya Yojana (DDAY) National Urban Livelihood Mission, the Government is committed for providing shelter to all homeless in the State in a phased manner at all district headquarters, he said adding that 5 such shelters have already been taken up at Jammu, Reasi, Kathua, Anantnag and Kupwara District Headquarters.
With regard to performance under Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), the Dy CM said the department has taken steps to get all the 80 Cities/towns of the State declared as Open Defecation Free (ODF). To this end, 19 clusters for the scientific disposal of solid waste covering all 78 urban towns and two capital cities of the State have been formed, he informed.He said that DPRs of the Projects have been prepared and 10 projects tendered out in PPP mode at an estimated cost of over Rs 690 crore.The SWM project at Srinagar with “Waste to Energy” technology has been approved by the State Cabinet for its execution and LoI issued and the tendering process initiated for Solid Waste Management in Jammu.“It is expected that execution of all the Solid Waste Management projects will take off during 2018-19 and objective of “garbage-free towns” shall be achieved before the end of Mission i.e. 2nd Oct 2019”, he informed.He said that Swachhata App, an Android/IOS mobile application enables citizens to post sanitary related issues/grievances for redressal by the respective Urban Local Bodies within fixed time frame has been started in all towns of the State.
With regard to augmentation of the already existing drainage and sewerage systems in the state, the Deputy Chief Minister said that 260 drainage schemes at an estimated cost of over Rs 570 crore in all urban areas of the State and schemes costing over Rs 300 crore under World Bank Funded Jhelum-Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP) are being taken up in Srinagar city which mainly comprise of 49 dewatering stations, construction of SCADA system and Construction of Drainage network in left out areas.“Execution of both the ongoing Sewerage Projects, Greater Jammu and Srinagar Cities under JnNURM, which were held up due to stoppage of funding by the GoI has again been resumed and proposed for completion by ending March 2018,” Dr Singh maintained.He said for Sewerage system coverage of left out areas of Jammu and Srinagar City, the Government is planning to complete it with Overseas Development Assistance.
To cater to the increasing Housing demands in Urban areas, the Department has gone for vertical expansion of the cities by construction of residential flats including 252 in 10 towers at Muthi, Jammu, 56 at Bemina, Opposite Hajj House, Srinagar and 60 flats in 3 towers by the name Gulposh Apartments, Bemina, Srinagar.Later the House passed the Grants of Rs 220050.83 lakh for Housing & Urban Development Department with voice-vote.Earlier, several members took part in the discussion and gave their valuable inputs for further strengthening the Housing and Urban sector in the state. They include Mian Altaf Ahmad, Nawang Rigzin Jora, Yawar Mir, Satpaul Sharma, Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen, M Y Tarigami, Shamim Firdous, Sukhnandan Kumar, Vikar Rasool, Mohammad Khalil Bandh, Pawan Kumar Gupta, Kamal Verma, Bashir Ahmed Dar, Rajesh Gupta, Haji Abdul Rashid Dar, Mohammad Yousuf Bhat, Ali Mohammad Sagar, Mohammad Amin Bhat, Abdul Rahim Rather, Devender Singh Rana, Rajeev Jasrotia, Deldan Namgyal, Abdul Majeed Padder, Mubarak Gul, R S Pathania, G M Saroori, Shah Mohammad Tantray, Mohammad Akbar Lone, Shakti Raj Parihar, Raja Manzoor, Choudhary Mohammad Akram, Altaf Ahmad Wani, Devinder Kumar Manyal, Asgar Ali Karbalie, Javid Hassan Beigh, Daleep Singh Parihar, Javed Rana, Gulzar Ahmad Wani, Choudhary Qamar Hussain, Dinanath Bhagat, Abdul Majeed Larmi, Usman Abdul Majeed, Noor Mohammad Sheikh, Rajeev Sharma and Ravinder Raina.