Excelsior Correspondent
Udhampur, May 9: The Commission set up for demarcation of the holy river Devika got into action today by setting up sub-teams to complete the task.
The 10 member Commission headed by SDM Ramnagar, Anshul Garg began its task by identifying the target stretches of the holy river and deploying 3 sub-teams each headed by a Naib Tehsildar and accompanied by other revenue officials for carrying out demarcation of each stretch, along with the encroachments thereon.
The Commission has been set up by the District Administration as part of its City Development Project whereby a package of initiatives for mapping and removal of encroachments along roads and rivers, widening of city roads, formulation and implementation of traffic management plan, relocation of hawkers and vendors and decongestion of town area has been put into motion.
A large number of encroachments have taken place along the river bank and several commercial establishments have come up discharging their effluents into the holy river, impeding its flow and polluting the same. Keeping the objective of restoring the sacred river to its pristine glory, the district administration has set up the Commission to demarcate the river according to the revenue records as well as identify and demarcate the encroachments that have come up along its banks and embankments.
Incidentally, the issue of encroachment has been highlighted several times in the past by the local citizens and the media and field studies conducted to identify unauthorized occupation of lands near the river bank and its adjoining patches but these may only present a partial picture.
Hence, the Commission has been constituted to conduct a comprehensive overview of the actual length and breadth of the river which spans across an area of nearly 300 kanals traversing Gangar, Rount, Shivnagar and Umara revenue villages on its way. Besides, the neighboring and adjoining patches along the entire length of the river shall also be covered by the appointed teams to identify illegal occupations and encroachments.
The Commission has its task cut out for completing the man-moth exercise within a time period of 20 days so that the encroachment removal drive may be initiated thereafter.
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