By: Ahmad Shabir
Anantnag: Keeping the fingers crossed, the Town Planning Organization (TPO) has miserably failed to give any response to the letter shot by the Pahalgam Development Authority (PDA) a week ago in order to ascertain the flaws in the revised master plan. The letter has been sent to the TPO after PDA received a communication from the LG’s grievance cell.
PDA, the main nodal agency for the development of the famed spot has shot a letter to the Chief Town Planner, asking him to review the designation of the ecologically fragile area around Lidder valley international golf course as permissible area for commercial constructions.
The development has taken place after this newspaper highlighted the flaws in revised master plan framed on the directions of the High Court, which had declared the previous master plan full of flaws.
High Court in response to the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by a group of locals in 2010 had banned all the commercial and residential constructions and repairs with directions to the authorities to come up with the new master plan which will protect the ecology and environs of the area unlike the previous one which had paved way for the construction of hotel, huts, guest houses and other commercial establishments in the green zones of the Pahalgam, thus ravaging the fragile ecology of the tourist spot.
The Town Planning Organization in 2015 finally framed the new master plan 2032, claiming it will leave no scope for the further vandalisation of the picturesque spot.
However, five years later some locals recently exposed how the authorities in the revised master plan have designated the most environmentally sensitive area around the golf course as permissible for commercial constructions.
The designation of the area having been designated as permissible, according to locals, was exposed after some financially well off and well connected people had applied for permission of hotels and huts with PDA.
A local social activist, Mushtaq Pahalgami posted a video on social media in which he described the designation of the ecologically fragile area around the golf course as a conspiracy to benefit the rich class.
Following the series of stories carried by Precious Kashmir and concerns expressed by the locals, sources said that CEO, PDA has shot a letter to Chief Town Planner, asking him to review the same.
They said that the CEO, PDA in his letter has asked the CTP that the locals have expressed serious environmental concerns over the designation of the environmentally sensitive area around the golf course as permissible for constructions and that the same needs to be reviewed.
Sources said that the LG’s grievance cell too has directed the concerned authorities to look into the matter.
However, a source said that the Chief of TPO has not given any response to the letter issued by the CEO of PDA with regard to the matter.
“More than a week has passed but the CTP has failed to respond to the CEO’s letter,” the source said.
Town Planner, Gulzar Ahmad had told this newspaper that the environmentally sensitive area had been designated as permissible on the directions of the then chief minister, late Mufti Mohammad Syed.
“We don’t know whether it was his compulsion or vision but it was done on his direction only at the last stage,” he had said.
CEO, PDA, Masrat Hashim confirmed to have shot a letter to the CTP after receiving communication from the LG’s grievance cell.
