Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 27: Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Ch. Sukhnandan today said that Government envisages minimizing the water supply gaps existing at the moment by tapping more sources of water and conserving the existing available resources. He said to provide potable water to a population of over 1.25 crore remains a challenge for the Department.
In a written reply to demands for grants of PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Department in Legislative Assembly, the Minister said the twin cities of Srinagar and Jammu having a combined population of 26 lakh requires 116.22 Million Gallons of water daily, while as we are only able to supply 104.36 MG on daily basis. Similarly, in bigger towns to cater to a population of over 14.5 lakh, having a daily demand of 74.80 MG against which 33.78 MG is being supplied on daily basis.
The Minister further said that about 85 lakh people living in villages have daily water supply requirement of 107.72 MG, while as we are able to supply only 92.13 MG. He said to deal with this gap in water supply system, Government has prepared a comprehensive plan and sincere efforts will be made to implement the same on ground at the earliest.
The Minister said to meet the present and future demand of drinking water, two schemes have been taken up under JNURM for augmentation of drinking water supply to Srinagar city, costing Rs. 269.37 crore, against which an expenditure of Rs.160.28 crore has been incurred up to ending March, 2014. He said during the current fiscal, Rs. 12.03 crore were utilized on these two schemes and both schemes are targeted for completion during the next financial year. He said with completion of these schemes another 20 MG water will be added to the Srinagar city.
The Minister further added that for Jammu city to meet the present and future water deficit, a project “Augmentation of water supply to Jammu city from Ravi Chenab” costing Rs.886.00 crore stands formulated for providing additional drinking water of 240 MLD to Jammu city and it has been submitted to Union Ministry of Urban Development.
The Minister said 78 schemes are ongoing under LIC loan assistance with an estimated cost of Rs. 240.13 crore, to meet the deficit of the Urban Population in towns of the State. He said besides, 9 schemes for towns are also ongoing under UIDSSMT and is nearing completion.
The Minister said under the flagship programme of NRDWP, the focus is to ensure drinking water scarcity both in terms of adequacy and quality of water to all people on a sustainable basis by adopting holistic approach through conjunctive use of surface, ground and rain water harvesting besides recharging of sources and mobilizing the system.
Ch. Sukhnandan said that Rs. 477.91 crore was earmarked under NRDWP, against which Rs. 474.41 crore have been received so far, which includes Rs. 20 crore recently released under Natural Calamities under NRDWP during the current financial year. He said the project proposals of Rs. 600 crore under NRDWP-Normal and Rs 30 crore under Desert Development Programme (DDP) have been formulated for the year 2015-16. He said the proposed plan envisages coverage of 758 habitations benefitting 6.5 lakh souls across the State.
To ensure quality water to the rural population, the Minister said 22 district level laboratories have been established at district headquarters. He said at the sub-divisional level, 64 sub-divisional labs have been established in the State. Besides, 2 State level labs one at Srinagar and Jammu each have been approved by the Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitations.
Referring to the immense damage to PHE and I&FC infrastructure due to the floods of September 2014, the Minister said 2983 Water Supply Schemes were damaged across the State out of the over 4000 schemes. The restoration cost of these schemes has been worked out at Rs. 234.76 Crore. Similarly, under I&FC sector 8348 spots were damaged for which the restoration cost has been worked out to Rs. 1279.41 crore. The Minister said to meet future flood challenges, two new projects namely “Flood Threat to River Jhelum” costing Rs. 2200 crore and “Flood Protection to River Chenab” costing Rs. 2314 crore have been submitted to the Union Government for their sanction under Flood Management Programme.
The Minister said Government will also focus on harnessing the irrigation potential of the State which has assessed at 1358 thousand hectares in order to provide sustainable and assured irrigation facilities to the farmers of the State.
Earlier, the Minister moved a Demand for Grant of a sum of Rs. 238164.46 lakh to defray the charges which will come in the course of payment during the year ending March 31, 2016 for the department under his charge.
11 Members took part in discussion on demand of grants including . Mohammad Khalil Band, Ravinder Raina, Syed Farooq Ahmed Andrabi, Daleep Singh, Noor Mohammad Sheikh, Shakti Parihar, Er. Abdul Rashid, Mohammad Yousuf Bhat, Jeevan Lal, Abdul Rahim Rather and Bashir Ahmed Dar.
Later, the members, who moved the Cut Motions on the Grants, withdrew after the satisfactory reply from the Minister.
The House passed the Grants by a voice vote.
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