Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 26: Keeping in view the long run strategy to meet the ever growing drinking water needs of Jammu city and its adjoining localities, the Government will speed up the process of prestigious Chenab Drinking Water Scheme. All the bottlenecks coming in the way of project will be cleared and work will start soon.
To take stock of the physical status and alignment of the project, Minister for PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Sham Lal Sharma, today visited the proposed project site to have on-the-spot study of the situation. He discussed the pros and cons of the project with the concerned officers and instructed them to clear all hurdles for finalization of the project. He directed them to start the process of land acquisition for the filtration plant and laying the pipes and creating the infrastructure for developing the water station.
In order to expedite the entire process, the Minister ordered constitution of a committee of concerned departments which will work in close coordination and clear all barricades. He directed the CEO, ERA, Chief Engineer, PHE and Additional Deputy Commissioner, Jammu to complete the land acquisition process at the earliest so that the project is forwarded to the funding agency. Since the project was conceived long back and now it cannot brook any delay, he directed for disposal of all issues in a time bound manner.
While interacting with the media persons after inspecting the site of project, the Minister said that the project was prepared as a long run policy to augment the drinking water scenario of Jammu, but it could not be taken up by the successive regimes due to certain reasons. Now, in view of the growing needs of water due to wide spread migration of people from different parts of the State and sinking water resources, the Government has decided to take up this prestigious project.
The Minister said that the project has been proposed to be taken up to lift 200 cusecs of water from river Chenab in two phases and first phase is likely to be accomplished by 2016. The project cost for the first phase has been estimated Rs. 771 crore which will be funded by NABARD. On completion, the drinking water scenario of Jammu city will improve significantly, he added.
Earlier, the Minister inspected the Ranjan Lift Irrigation Scheme and directed the engineers to explore full potential of the scheme as per its original design capacity. He issued instructions for making all the pumps operational to augment the discharge capacity so that the water reaches upto the tail end to achieve the objective of the canal. He also ordered for undertaking necessary renovation of the station and proper upkeep of assets.
He also inspected the ongoing renovation/repair work of Ranbir Canal and set a deadline for the engineers to complete the works by of March 15, 2013.
Those accompanied the Minister included, Chief Executive Officer, ERA, Saurav Bhagat, Chief Engineer, PHE, Ashwani Sharma, Chief Engineer, I&FC, K.K.Gupta, Chief Engineer, ERA, Naresh Langeh, Additional Deputy Commissioner, Jammu, Dr. R.S. Sharma and other officers of the PHE/Irrigation & ERA.
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