Umaisar Gull Ganie
Bijbehara, May 19: The work on Mini Secretariat Complex undertaken by Roads & Buildings (R&B) Department in 2017 in Bijbehara area of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district is far from completion. The work on Rs 3.85 crore project is in limbo from five-years as officials cite lack of funds to complete it.
In 2017, the then Minister for Revenue, Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, Abdul Rehman Veeri while laying the foundation stone of a building for the mini secretariat announced that the building would be completed on time and all tehsil level offices would work under one roof to save people from moving pillar to post.
Official sources said that the mini secretariat was sanctioned for Bijbehara tehsil in 2017 after which the Roads and Buildings department (R&B) was given this project.
A three-storey building was constructed up to roof level within two year but no work has been done, since then,” the sources said adding that 95% work stands completed but remaining work is yet to start due to non-availability of funds.
“A common man in Bijbehara has to run from pillar to post to visit different government offices which are located in different pockets of town, with some even located in highly congested areas”, Zulufkar Qadri, a local said.
He said we kept raising this demand before the government for construction of mini secretariat at the Tehsil in order to improve public services delivery after which the prestigious institution was sanctioned but the dream is yet to become a reality.
Shah-e-Jahan Itoo, Assistant Executive Engineer, R&B department Bijbehara said that the construction work of the building is 95 percent complete but due to paucity of further funds work has been stopped. Once funds will release, the work will begin again,” he said.
