In a significant development, the army has agreed to vacate 139.04 acres of defence land at Tatoo Ground in the heart of Srinagar city as Ministry of Defence signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) through J&K government.
The prime land will be now used for the tourism promotion with J&K government deciding to come up with a first ever Amusement Park at the space which will be vacated by the army.
The land will be handed over by the MoD to J&K government within the period of 120 days.
In May this year J&K government had formed a committee to evaluate bids for the development of a ‘world-class’ amusement park at Tattoo Ground.
The nine-member committee was headed by Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar Bidhuri.
Tattoo Ground in the Batamaloo area of the city has been under Army's use for decades. The J&K government had been asking the Army to vacate prime land. In 2015, the Army had vacated 17 acres of land after a civil-military liaison conference chaired by the then chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.
Hailing the Army for its decision to vacate the defence land, J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said the administration and security forces are dedicated to the welfare of people.
“We will make honest and dedicated efforts to fulfill all the conditions of the MoU and develop tourism and other related activities in such a way that the tourists visiting Kashmir valley find Tattoo ground as one of the most attractive destinations,” he said.
In September last year People’s Democratic Party (PDP) president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti had asked the J&K administration to use Tattoo Ground for the construction of a cancer hospital and a playground instead of the historic Eidgah, here.
Mehbooba's remarks came after reports of a proposal by the J&K Waqf Board to construct a hospital at Eidgah and the divisional administration's plan to develop a playground there.