Srinagar : In response to the High Court direction calling for a timeline for drafting a new Master Plan for Sonamarg, the J&K government today filed an affidavit affirming that the Master plan preparation shall commence after its extended local area is notified by the Tourism Department.
The High Court of J&K and Ladakh had previous week sought details regarding the steps initiated as well as the timeline for revising or drafting a new Master Plan for Sonamarg, a hill station of Kashmir facing challenges to its biodiversity.
The affidavit was filed by Belkies Jeelani, the Chief Town Planner of Kashmir, Town Planning Organisation of the government.
The officer submitted “the answering respondent has taken up the matter with the Commissioner/Secretary to Govt, Tourism department vide office letter no. MP/TDA/CTPK/24/3235-36; dated: 16.11.2024 regarding the Preparation/ revision of the Master Plan for the Tourism Development Authorities”.
Her affidavit informed, “the Tourism Department shall notify the extended area, if any, of Sonamarg Development Authority in the first instance and thereafter the Town Planning Organisation will start the Preparation of the Master Plan for Sonamarg, the Procedure and the timelines for the formulation of GIS-based Master plan Sonamarg 2025-45”.
The Master plan preparation shall commence after the extended local area for Master plan Sonamarg is notified by tourism department after consultation with various stakeholders, it added.
It said: “The KML file delineating the tentative local area proposed to be notified stands already conveyed to tourism department for comments/vetting and forwarding of KML files of all Khasra numbers of areas proposed/existing in local area of SDA.”
The affidavit continued that the Town planning Organisation shall be providing the technical guidance for the preparation of Sonamarg Master
It stated: “the RFP shall be prepared taking feedback from various stakeholders like Forest Deptt, Wildlife Deptt. being in the vicinity of forest and wild life areas and Revenue Deptt, Remote Sensing Department etc, for inviting technical and financial bids from consultants for preparation of Master plan on outsource basis.”
It said: “Once the local area is notified and funds are made available through HUDD, technical and financial bids will be invited from reputed consultants having expertise in the preparation of such Master plans as per the requirements listed in the RFP.”
The affidavit read “The Project shall be awarded to the consultants based on the QCBS method and the preparation of Draft Master Plan Sonamarg 25-2045 shall be prepared using latest technologies and high-resolution imageries.”
“The Draft Master Plan”, further read “shall be put in public domain by the Tourism Deptt for a period of 60 days for seeking objections/suggestions from various stakeholders and general public as per the provisions prescribed in J&K Development Act-1970” and that the objections/suggestions received shall be examined by the board constituted by the government.
