Take note of drinking water shortage reports, pace up schemes: Mehbooba to PHE Deptt

Jhelum dredging, FSC earth cutting in full pace

SRINAGAR, AUGUST 25: Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti today directed the PHE Department to take due cognizance of the reports of drinking water shortage coming from various parts of the State and overcome the problem by early commissioning of water supply schemes.

Chairing a review meeting of drinking water and irrigation schemes in the State, the Chief Minister asked the concerned Department to work out the drinking water needs in areas of Aloochi Bagh, Nowgam, Panzinara, Pantha Chowk, Natipora, Batamaloo, Parimpora and other places in Srinagar and Janipur, Akhnoor, Talab Tilloo, Paloura, Parade, Roop Nagar, Exhibition grounds etc in Jammu and other rural areas in the State from where the demands generally come.

Minister for PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Shyam Choudhary was present in the meeting.

Terming the tanker service as a temporary solution to the problem, Mehbooba Mufti directed pacing up of hand pump installation in these water scarce areas which will give relief to people by a considerable measure. She also directed closure of under execution schemes at the earliest so that the drinking water demand of these areas is addressed on a long term basis.

The Chief Minister reviewed the completion status of some ambitious water supply projects in the State like Tangnar Water Supply Scheme, Greater Jammu Water Supply Scheme and Water Supply Schemes of Greater Baramulla, Leh, Bamzoo, Kehribal and other important schemes and sought the prioritised completion of these schemes. She directed upgradation of filtration plants of the existing schemes in a phased manner in view of their age and efficiency. Besides, she also directed cleaning of discharge sources and timely testing of water samples for quality assurance. She also directed dove tailing water supply distribution to schools with Swach Bharat campaign for more funding.

Mehbooba Mufti also reviewed the status of many major irrigation schemes like Ravi canal, Rajpora canal, Parka Chak canal in Kargil, Lar Canal besides other projects like Chenab protection works, Tawi barrage, Tulbul project, inland waterway in Jhelum and other schemes. Besides, she also reviewed the status of irrigation projects under PMKSY. She also directed clearing of all encroachments in irrigation canals.

The Chief Minister was informed that a monitoring mechanism for working out and arresting distribution losses is being developed by the Department besides pooling all major schemes in the two cities for equal water distribution across.

The Chief Minister also reviewed the pace of dredging on river Jhelum and Flood Spill Channel. She directed completion of the works at the earliest.

Mehbooba Mufti was informed that more than 50 % of dredging has been completed on Jhelum river and the dry earth cutting on the Flood Spill Channel has also been achieved progressively. 2.50 kilometre long bunds have been constructed on the channel besides plugging other breaches, she was informed.

Chief Secretary, B. B. Vyas; Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Rohit Kansal; Secretary, PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Saurabh Bhagat; senior officers; Chief Engineers   of several wings and other officers were also present in the meeting.