Govt revises work plan for Mubarak Mandi heritage project

JAMMU: The government is contemplating an ambitious project to develop water kingdom in city of temples on PPP mode in an area of about 300 kanal to further add to the tourism industry of the state.
Minister for Tourism Ghulam Ahmed Mir today convened a meeting with officers of tourism department, members of Mubarak Mandi Heritage Society and Dogra Heritage Development Society besides civil society members to discuss strategies for speedy completion of the prestigious project of Mubarak Mandi Heritage Complex.
Former Minister Gulchain Singh Charak, Director Tourism Jammu Soujanya Sharma, President Chamber of Commerce Y. V. Sharma, member Dogra Heritage Development Society Gambhir Dev Singh, member Mubarak Mandi Heritage Society Zaffar Khan, member Executive Committee MMJHS Narender Singh, Secretary Gen DHDS and Convener INTACH Jammu Chapter S. M. Sahni besides members of civil society were present in the meeting.
He said that the state government has revised work plan for early completion of development project of Mubarak Mandi Heritage complex adding that the government has engaged engineering wing of Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Departments to work with Archeological Survey of India (ASI) for speedy completion of the restoration of the royal complex being projected as the Dogra heritage site.
Mir said that although central government approved hefty sum for the project but ratio of its utilization is very low. He expressed dissatisfaction over the slow progress of ASI which even could not utilize very less percentage of the released funds.
The Minister assured the members of civil society that the Engineering wing of Tourism will work with ASI to further speed up the pace on work for early completion of the heritage project.
The Minister said that as the restoration work of Mubarak Mandi Heritage complex is different from other construction works it needs dedicated and skilled workers. He said that a coordination committee would be constituted comprising members of Tourism department and other concerned stakeholders which would visit Rajasthan to learn about the effective ways of preservation and conservation of ancient monuments of great heritage significance. Besides, possibilities would also be explored to seek support from reputed national and international agencies in this field for early completion of the heritage complex.
Meanwhile, the meeting also had detailed deliberations on status of various tourism development projects like Cable Car Projects at Patnitop and Bahu Fort.
Speaking on the occasion, the civil society members stressed the need for taking concrete measures for completion of the project in a time bound manner.