Timely delivery of infrastructure

It comes from the Chief Minister himself. Chairing a review meeting of the Department of Law, Justice, and Parliamentary Affairs at the civil secretariat, Omar Abdullah underlined the importance of adhering to deadlines.

This, to ensure the timely delivery of critical infrastructure. In any efficient governance, among many other things, the timely completion of projects is crucial. Unfortunately, in J&K, and many would believe that Kashmir is way worse than Jammu in this case, the deadlines are hardly met. We have seen in the past that not just the first, but dozens of deadlines are missed. As an example we still remember the Jehangir Chowk-Rambagh flyover.

A project that took many years over and above the first deadline. Similarly we have many flyovers built across Kashmir that took more time than was envisaged in the beginning. Not to speak of the big infrastructural projects, there are some small projects that take years to complete. Remember we had a tragedy at Gandabal in Srinagar where we lost some school kids because the foot bridge on Jhelum in that area was not completed for past many years. There are many such examples where projects were undertaken and then left midway. The problems faced by the people on this count are immense.

One would expect that the new civilian government would take it up as a challenge and really be after the concerned officials to ensure that projects once taken in hand are not left half way. Also that the critical infrastructure is put in place following the time lines strictly. Right now we have many mega projects going on in J&K. These infrastructural projects are very crucial for the overall development of J&K. Any delay in their completion throws a spanner in the overall developmental map of J&K.

What it also does is that costs escalate and there is additional burden on the exchequer. So it is in the interest of all that the projects taken up are completed in time. To this end, government can also start an audit of all the infrastructural projects; if they are completed in time or not. In case of delay the culpability must be fixed and necessary action should follow.