In a major concern, the successive governments in Jammu and Kashmir have failed to spent a single penny out of Rs 380 crore allocated to the State under different central financial packages for the conservation of the Dal Lake in Srinagar.
A source said Rs 80 crore allocated to the State as part of the Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Program by the Congress-led UPA government in 2004, for the conservation of the dying lake, have remained unspent till date.
These funds were meant for relocation and rehabilitation of Dal dwellers as part of Dal conservation plan.
Similarly, the source said, the Rs 300 crore package for the conservation of the lake, allocated under PM’s Developmental Package (PMDP) in 2015, has met the same fate.
Of these Rs 300 crore, Rs 50 crore were meant for cleaning of the lake and the remaining Rs 250 crore for rehabilitation of people living inside Dal to other places.
“But the State hasn’t booked any expenditure under this new package also during the past three years,” said the source.
The issue came up for discussion during the last visit of union home minister Rajnath Singh-led team to the Valley, which, apart from taking stock of security situation, also reviewed progress on different developmental projects funded by the government of India.
During the review meeting on October 23, an official said the union home secretary Rajiv Gauba, who was part of the central team, took strong exception to “lethargic approach” of state government in failing to book any expenditure from central funds for conservation of the lake.
The official said when the union secretary sought reason from state bureaucrats for not utilising the funds for the past 14 years, the state officials came up with a “bizarre” response that the government has “over the years struggled to relocate people from Dal and hence the funds remained unspent.”
During the meeting, the official said, when state officials concerned sought approval from the union government team for diverting the entire funding for “cleaning of the lake,” the union secretary responded saying “such small issues” can be sought out at the state government level.
“It is lethargic that you (state government officials) are stuck in rules and no funds have been spent under conservation program,” the union secretary told the state government team, and directed for speeding up the work on the conservation programme.