Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 26: Chairman Legislative Council, Haji Anayat Ali today convened a high-level meeting of officers in his office chamber to discuss the issues related to the PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control sector at Kargil.
Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Choudhary Sham Lal, Chairman/Chief Executive Councilor, LAHDC, Kargil, A A Kachoo, legislators Asgar Ali Karbalai and Aga Syed Baqir Rizvi were also present the meeting.
Several issues relating to the functioning of various PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control schemes in Kargil were discussed in detail. The status of various on-going developmental projects under these sectors vis-à-vis availability of funds, besides restoration of works which were damaged due to floods during 2010 and 2017 in the district were also discussed in length and breadth.
The issues regarding non-release of funds under central sponsored schemes, including AIBP, FMP, release of wages of casual laborers and sanction of new project under FMP, NABARD, PMGSY etc. were also figured in the meeting prominently.
The legislators also raised the issues of slow progress on some important projects and non-release of funds which is causing delay for their completion. They demanded immediate release of funds and early completion of on-going projects so that the people get their benefits.
The Chairman and the Minister for PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control called upon the concerned authorities to speed up the pace and complete the all on-going projects in a time bound manner so that their benefits reach out to the needy population.
They stressed on maintaining quality of works strictly as per the specifications and judicious use of funds to ensure that the assets so created serve their objective to the locals. The Chairman also called upon the Minister to ensure funds for the projects so that they don’t get delayed.
The Minister assured the Chairman and the MLAs to address all the raised issues on priority. He also assured to look into the demands of the concerned MLAs for providing separate district funds for the development of Ladakh region, especially the Kargil district in consultation with the Planning Department. Regarding the non-release of wages of Casual Helpers and drivers working in the district, the Minister directed the concerned to release funds under wages at an earliest.
Secretary, PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, M Raju briefed the meeting about the present status of all ongoing projects pertaining the department.