The work on the Mini Secretariat Complex was undertaken by the Roads & Buildings (R&B) Department in 2017 in the Bijbehara area of South Kashmir’s Anantnag district is far from completion. Rs 3.85 crore project is in limbo from five years as officials cite a 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% of work stands completed, but the 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 construct the mini secretariat at the Tehsil to improve public services delivery, after which the government-sanctioned the prestigious institution. Still, 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 per cent complete. But, due to the paucity of further funds, work has been stopped. Once funds release, the work will begin again,” he said.