62nd Meeting of SMVDSB Approves Master Plan for Bhawan and Extended Shrine Area

JAMMU, MARCH 16: The 62^nd meeting of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board was held at the Raj Bhavan here today under the chairmanship of Governor N. N. Vohra, Chairman of the Shrine Board.

The Board reviewed the to-date progress of all its major projects which are presently underway and took a number of important decisions for further improving the management and enlargement of infrastructure facilities for the Yatra to the Holy Cave Shrine of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi.

The meeting was attended by Dr. E. Sreedharan, Dr. S. S. Bloeria, Mrs. Sudha Murty, Dr. Ashok Bhan, Pt. Shiv Kumar Sharma, Mr. H. L. Maini, Mr. Justice (Retd) Permod Kohli, Maj. Gen. (Retd) Shiv Kumar Sharma and Mr. B. B. Vyas, all Board Members; and Mr. Umang Narula, Principal Secretary to the Governor and Chief Executive Officer of the Shrine Board, Dr. M. K. Kumar and Mr. Anshul Garg, Additional CEOs,  Dr. (Brig.) M. M. Harjai, Administrator, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi College of Nursing, and Mr. M. M. Gupta, Chief Engineer of the Shrine Board.

With the objective of ensuring that the infrastructure which is created in the future years is established at the correct locations, is aesthetically designed and does not affect the environment, the Board had decided, over a year ago, to have a Master Plan prepared for the areas around Bhawan, Manokamna, Bhaironji, Adhkuwari and Banganga and, besides, to have an architectural design of Durga Bhawan prepared by the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi. In this context a series of meetings have been held with the School of Planning and Architecture in the past year. In today’s Board meeting the Master Plan, to be executed in phases, was approved. The Board also approved the Master Plan of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi College of Nursing. Chairman Vohra directed that the construction of the proposed two new hostel buildings should be completed before June, 2019.

The approved Master Plan involves a number of major interventions for execution, under Phase-I, proposed to be completed by 2021 and Phase-II by 2031. The interventions proposed in the Phase-I include facilitating smooth unidirectional movement of Yatris in the Bhawan area towards Atka and providing vertical connections by installation of high capacity elevators along with staircases on the track at multiple locations, widening of track to remove congestion, improvement in the gradient of pathways, provision of large spaces along the track to provide resting places for the Yatris. Besides, the Master Plan entails construction of an extended exit route, creation of free accommodation with self contained blanket stores, drinking water facilities, toilets blocks, bhaint shops, catering outlets, additional lockers, and redevelopment of the entire existing Market Area.

The Board also approved Architectural Design for construction of New Durga Bhawan prepared by the SPA for providing on-floor free of cost accommodation facilities for about 2000 Yatris by maximising the utilisation of space. The Master Plan seeks to ensure that by 2031 90% of the total accommodation in the Bhawan area will be free of cost for the Yatris.

The Board also approved the establishment at Jammu of a 30-bedded Extension Centre of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana Superspeciality Hospital, Kakryal, for providing various Day Care facilities, which would include Dialysis, Chemotherapy, Diagnosis etc.

While expressing satisfaction at the pace of execution of various ongoing projects, the Board directed CEO, Shrine Board, to ensure the timely completion of all works and time-bound implementation of the Master Plan.