Out of Rs 80, 000 Cr PMDP, very little has been spent till date
Construction on most of the projects under the package either yet to take off or going at a funeral pace
Srinagar: Nearly five years down the line very little has been spent out of the rupees 80,000 core (actually Rs 62,393 crore) Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP) for Jammu and Kashmir which mostly contained the economic infrastructure projects under central sector in the erstwhile state, sources say.
Construction on most of the projects under the package is either yet to take off or is going at a funeral pace. Announced on 7th of November 2015 by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the package has crossed rupees one lakh crores due to over delay and cost escalation.
A major portion of the money under the PMDP had been earmarked for different central sector economic infrastructure projects in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. However most of this money is yet to be released, say the sources.
According to the official information (MHA) rupees 61,112 crores of the package has been sanctioned by the concerned ministries of the central government out of which rupees 19,961 crorers have been released to the concerned implementing agencies.
The money “packaged” as the largest ever reconstruction and development initiative for Jammu and Kashmir was announced after the formation of a coalition government between the Peoples Democratic Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2015.
The highly clamoured development package had actually rupees 62,393 crore earmarked for new initiatives and projects in the erstwhile state.
An amount of rupees 7,427 crore which was bound to be provided by the central government for certain existing projects under the Prime Ministers Reconstruction Project of 2004 was also wrapped up in the PMDP.
Similarly rupees 7,263 crore for projects to be undertaken within the existing budget line were also presented as part of the “grand” package.
The package provided rupees approximating 3000 crore for some roads and highways projects under public private partnership mode. The projects had already been awarded to the erstwhile state and were in different stages of execution in 2015 when PMDP was announced.
The package had a humanitarian relief component of rupees 6,313 crore. It involved a relief and assistance of rupees 2000 crores to the families and tradesmen affected by the floods of September 2014 in J&K.
The humanitarian relief also stipulated provision of government jobs to 3000 Kashmiri pandit migrants and construction of transit accommodations in the Kashmir valley cumulatively incurring rupees 2000 crores.
It also set out one time settlement of displaced persons of Pakistan administered Kashmir and Chhamb with rupees 2000 crore.
Most of the money under the humanitarian relief component has been spent by the concerned agencies. The money was directly transferred in to the accounts of the victims and beneficiaries plugging every loophole for any financial irregularly.
However, Crisis Management, Social Infrastructure, Development Projects and Economic Infrastructure Projects under the package are struggling to make progress and spending has been very dismal, say the sources.
Rashid Paul is Associate Editor at Kashmir Images.
He can be reached at [email protected]
