Deputy Chief Minister, Dr. Nirmal Singh has stressed on strictly adhering to the existing building codes and regulations while taking up construction works in the State besides ensuring that ecological concerns are addressed in a scientific manner.The Deputy Chief Minister was addressing officers in the 76th Board of Directors (BoD) meeting of the Jammu Development Authority and 20th BoD meeting of the Jammu and Kashmir Lakes and Water Development Authority (LAWDA) here today.Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development Department, Mr. Mohammad Ashraf Mir was also present on the occasion.Chief Secretary, Mr. B. R. Sharma, Principal Secretary Forests, Mr. R. K. Gupta, Commissioner Housing and Urban Development Mr. Bipul Pathak, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu, Dr. Pawan Kotwal, Secretary Tourism, Mr. Farooq Shah, Deputy Commissioners Jammu, Srinagar, S. Simrandeep Singh, Dr. Farooq Lone, VC JDA Mr. Mubarak Singh, VC LAWDA Mr. Sarmad Hafeez, Commissioners Jammu Municipal Corporation, Srinagar Municipal Corporation, Ms. Mandeep Kour, Mr. Showkat Zargar, Chief Town Planners of Srinagar, Jammu, Chief Engineer R&B, Jammu, Chief Architect Mr. V. K. Panth and other senior officers were also present in the board meetings.
The Deputy Chief Minister directed the officers to speed up the work on Tawi River Front Project in Jammu city as it is one of the major landscaping projects of the Jammu city and would go a long way in ensuring that the embankments of the river get strengthened besides also contributing to the tourism related activities.The Deputy Chief Minister also directed for speedy and time bound construction of the Jammu Bus Stand project, maintaining that it is one of the prestigious projects for the overall development of Jammu city. He said that due care should be taken for adequate rehabilitation of the shopkeepers whose property is being acquired on account of the project.“The Government is committed for ensuring the development of the twin capital cities on modern lines and in this regard several developmental initiatives have already been undertaken by the Government and the Centre has also been kind enough to extend their support by way of various Centrally Sponsored Schemes and Programmes, Dr. Singh maintained.It was given out in the meeting that the Sabarmati River Front Development Corporation has been engaged as a project consultant for overall implementation and management services for Tawi River Front Development Project and they have already conducted a site survey of Tawi River and its adjoining areas in connection with preparation of a comprehensive DPR for developing the banks of Tawi River on the pattern of Sabarmati River Front in Ahmadabad.
The meeting was also told that the team after the site visit has identified a 10 km stretch from 4th Tawi bridge at Bhagwati Nagar upto Nagrota in Jammu city for its development as River Front and has advised JDA to conduct topographic survey and geotechnical investigations. The team has also identified 1200 meter length of Tawi River stretch between bridges from Dogra chowk to Gujjar Nagar as a pilot project to be taken up in the first phase.The meeting was told that the land has already been allotted for construction of night shelters and working women hostel, free of cost, to be constructed at village Deeli and Ploura respectively. It was also given out that authority would be developing various parks in JDA colony.While directing officers during the 20th BoD meeting of LAWDA, the Dy. Chief Minister said that environmental concerns of the fragile water bodies of the State should be addressed in a scientific manner. He said that the environmental concerns should be kept in mind while carrying out the developmental and related activities. He said that the officers of different departments should synergize their efforts in order to address the concerns and also suggest the requisite remedial and corrective measures to be taken.The Deputy Chief Minister directed the officers to take the requisite scientific and technical expertise of various governmental agencies and institutions with regard to the upgradation of the STPs, Bio remediation and other related issues of the Dal and other water bodies.Dr. Singh also directed the officers to come up with the detailed project report for ensuring conservation of the Brarinambal Lagoon Project so that it comes up as a major tourist attraction in Srinagar city.