64th meet of SMVDSB held at Raj Bhavan

The 64th meeting of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) was held at the Raj Bhavan here on Friday under the chairmanship of Governor Satya Pal Malik, chairman of the board.

The meeting was attended by Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Dr AshokBhan, KB Kachru, KK Sharma, justice (retired) Permod Kohli, Maj Gen (retired)Shiv Kumar Sharma and Vijay Dhar, all board members; BVR Subrahmanyam, chiefsecretary; Umang Narula, principal secretary to the Governor; Simrandeep Singh,chief executive officer of the shrine board; Vivek Verma, additional chiefexecutive officer and M M Gupta, chief engineer of the board.

   

The Governor, while welcoming the members of the recentlyreconstituted board, complimented the earlier board members and lauded theircommitment and valuable contributions in creating and continually upgradingfacilities for convenience of the pilgrims.

While reviewing the income and expenditure statement of the board, the chairman pointed out that revenue income (i.e. excluding interest and dividends) should be either greater or equal to the revenue expenditure, excluding the university grant.

In total, the expenditure should be less than or equal to total income. In view of the new AIIMS and five new medical colleges coming up in the State, the board decided to reverse its earlier decision of setting up a medical college. The board also approved a formal donation policy to allow donors to donate as per laid down guidelines.

The meeting also approved installation of CCTV surveillancesystem on the entire track from Darshani Deodi to Bhawan which will beimplemented on turnkey basis.

Once in place, this system will not only help in monitoringthe movement of the pilgrims and strengthening overall security measures, itwill also be of immense support in case of any emergent situations to providereal time assistance to Shrine and local administration.

The board reviewed the to-date status of installation of ahi-tech multipurpose audio system on Tarakote Marg from Katra to Adhkuwariwhich is being implemented for facilitating on-foot pilgrims who use the scenicTarakote Marg for their journey to the Holy Cave Shrine of Shri Mata VaishnoDeviji.

This audio system will be installed through M/s BOSECorporation India Private Limited at an estimated cost of over Rs 4.55 crore,which includes operational and maintenance cost for 5 years. 550 speakers willbe installed along the Tarakote Marg for the facilitation of pilgrims and willbecome operational by mid of June this year. It will play devotional music andspiritual songs, which will comprise “Chants”, “Mantras”, “Stotras”, Bhaintsand devotional music in Dogri language.

The work on installation of dedicated fire hydrants fromBhawan to Adhkuwari via Himkoti and its extension along the Tarakote Marg alsocame up for review of the board. The installation of fire hydrants has beentaken up on priority basis to mitigate fire incidents during summer season.

The project envisages lifting of treated waste water fromBhawan STP to reservoirs of 50,000 gallons capacity each at hut station,Bhawan, Saket, Himkoti and Adhkuwari.

This project is estimated to cost Rs 3.50 crore and isslated to be completed by the PHE department by May 2019. Further, the treatedwater so lifted in normal course will be utilised for floriculture, washing oftrack, construction works etc.

The board approved another important project for installation of stand-alone packaged sewage treatment plants (STPs) for the toilet blocks on the yatra route. Since it is not feasible to connect the existing geographically scattered toilet blocks with a centralised STP, as such, the need has been felt for installing stand-alone STPs in 25 toilet blocks with an estimated cost of Rs. 6.65 crore in phased manner.

The installation of these STPs will also facilitate re-use of treated water, which can be further used for flushing of cisterns, civil constructions as well as gardening purposes. It is pertinent to mention that the board has already commissioned a number of STPs of varying capacities.

The board also had a review of status of the installation ofunderground cabling work from Katra to Bhawan and the surrounding areas whichalready stands allotted to a Contractor by PDD on the basis of tendering. Themeeting was apprised that this project involves an estimated cost of over Rs 78crore, which will be partly funded under the PMDP and partly by the shrineboard. This high utility project will have SCADA compliance based monitoringsystem of the electric network.

The Governor directed the CEO to ensure that all theprojects be completed as per the envisaged timelines for largely facilitatingthe pilgrims.

The board also took note of the launching of E-SurveillanceRadio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) based tracking and pre-paid systemfor yatris for hiring the services of Ponies, Pithoos and Palkis on the trackleading to the Shrine, which has been launched recently.

The meeting also took stock of the construction of the ShriMata Vaishno Devi nursing college complex coming up at Kakryal and emphasisedthe need for timely completion of its hostels and other infrastructure comingup in the phase-I involving an estimated cost of Rs 53 crore. 

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