Is govt throwing money of ‘Aam Aadmi’ down the drain?

SYED ALI SAFVI

SRINAGAR, May 25: Despite facing tremendous financial problems, the government of Jammu and Kashmir is virtually throwing money of ‘Aam Aadmi’ down the drain, only to please Congress president and UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, whose party ironically boasts of the slogan “Congress ka haath, Aam aadmi ke saath”.

The government is spending crores of rupees to make the colony at Rakh Aarth Bemina ready for UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, to lay its foundation stone on May 29. However, bulk of the money spent on the project so far has been wasted.

The government machinery is facing severe hardships in completing Rakh Arath project. Power Development department (PDD), Roads and Building R&B) department, and Public Health Engineering (PHE) department are working simultaneously day in and day out to make the colony ready. However, it seems highly unlikely that the project will be completed in time. The plots, which are supposed to be handed over to Dal dwellers, are inundated by flood waters.

R&B department had spent Rs 40 lakh on black topping of inner roads at Rakh Arath. Only two days after the black topping, the roads have developed cracks and some of them have got completely sunk. Now, the roads are again being earth filled.

Thousands of tippers have been engaged to sand fill the plots. Temporarily it is a good move, but it can not work in the long run as the plots can get submerged in flood water of Hokersar, which is not far away from Rakh Arath. Pertinently, the water of Hokersar wetland, which also acts as flood reservoir, goes into the Rakh Arath.

A top government official, seeking anonymity, told this newspaper that the Rakh Arath project was “complete flop show”.

“The fact of the matter is that the state government is very concerned about Dal lake, but it is not concerned about Dal dwellers,” he said. “Temporarily Dal dwellers will be shifted to Rakh Arath in the name of rehabilitation, but in the long run government will repent for its illogical decision.”
Stating that state government was wasting the money, a former minister told Kashmir Times on condition of anonymity that Rakh Arath was a flood zone and any type of construction was not feasible in the area.
“Ten or 15 years down the line, the government will have to think again about the rehabilitation of Dal dwellers,” he said, alleging embezzlement and misappropriation of funds meant for development activities.

In wake of Sonia Gandhi’s schedule visit, the pace of work has been accelerated. There are still hundreds of kanals of land submerged into water. PDD department has installed over 20 sub-stations and hundreds of electric poles in the area, in a rather haphazard manner.
Pertinently, adding to sate government’s woes, Dal dwellers yesterday refused to accept the plots at Rakh Arath.

Talking to Kashmir Times, a delegation of Dal dwellers said, “We don’t want to be rehabilitated at a place where we can not build houses. It is like we are being evacuated from one Dal and pushed into another.”
Experts believe that Rakh Arath project would prove to be a disaster. They are of the opinion that construction of concrete structures is not technically viable at Rath Arath, covering thousands of kanals of wet land. However, government has not paid any heed to their pleas and has gone ahead with the project.

“The wet lands we have in Kashmir have been chocked courtesy state government,” said a Municipal corporator. “Kashmir is a failed state. It is only sustaining on funds from India and then they go in the coffers of our so called leaders.”

LAWDA plans to develop 18,000 plots for rehabilitation of 10,600 Dal dwellers at a cost of Rs 402 crore over an available area of 7,625 kanals of land. In the first phase 3,000 kanals of land is being developed.

Traditionally, Rakh Arath, which has now been filled with earth, used to act as flood reservoir. The earth filling of Rakh Arath has posed a grave risk to Bemina and adjoining villages of being submerged in flood waters.