PIL highlighting damage caused by flash floods
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 24: A Division Bench of the High Court of J&K and Ladakh comprising Justice Tashi Rabstan and Justice Moksha Khajuria Kazmi has granted four weeks time to Additional Advocate General Amit Gupta appearing for Economic Reconstruction Agency (ERA) and JTFRP (Jehlum & Tawi Flood Recovery Project) to file latest status report regarding the current status of the Study of River Morphology of River Tawi Basin being carried out by M/s Aqualogus Oiltech (Joint Venture).
When the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) titled Inhabitants of Villages Barjala and Khandwal (Nikki Tawi Area) V/s State of J&K & Ors came up for hearing, Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed with Advocates Rahul Raina, Supriya Chouhan and Mohd Zulkarnain Choudhary appearing for the petitioners submitted that a foreign consultancy was engaged to study the River Tawi and to suggest mechanism for controlling the flash floods during monsoon as havoc is created with the maximum discharge of River Tawi water in Nikki Tawi Area where more than 48 villages sub-merge during rainy season thereby resulting in irreparable loss to the inhabitants of the area.
Advocate Ahmed further submitted that the timeline for the submission of the report by the foreign consultancy has since expired but there is no headway in the matter and every year the devastation is caused because of floods in the Nikki Tawi area.
At this stage, Senior AAG S S Nanda assisted by AAG Amit Gupta submitted that the foreign consultancy has already submitted its report regarding River Morphology to the ERA/JTFRP and the officers concerned are taking guidance from the study undertaken.
The Division Bench, accordingly, directed AAG Amit Gupta to file the latest status report in this regard within a period of four weeks. Advocate Mayank Gupta appearing for Jammu Smart City Project submitted that he has filed a detailed status report dated September 9th, 2022 giving details regarding the development of Tawi River Front on the pattern of Sabarmati River in Gujarat (Phase-I) and the work on the project is going on and the first phase of the project is going to be completed within a period of 18 months– July 31st, 2023.
Looking into the importance of the matter and the public interest involved, the Division Bench headed by First Puisne Judge Tashi Rabstan directed the Registry to re-notify the instant PIL on March 31st, 2023.
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