Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Oct 15: Minister for Urban Development and Urban Local Bodies, Nawang Rigzin Jora today ordered for time bound conservation and restoration of Brari Nambal Lagoon.
Speaking at a joint meeting of the officers of Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA), Urban Environment Engineering Department (UEED) and Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) in Civil Secretariat here, the Minister made it clear that the Brari Nambal Lagoon is an important water body within the old city, adding that there shall be no compromise on its restoration within quickest possible time. “The Brari Nambal Water body has both historical as well as heritage value and requires to be restored to its pristine glory”, Mr. Jora asserted. He ordered for immediate cleaning, dredging, expansion and beautification of the Brari Nambal Lagoon.
The Minister asked the engineers and officers of the LAWDA, UEED and SMC to make joint efforts to immediately check flow of sewage and drainage into the Lagoon and asked the concerned engineers and officers to connect the Lagoon with Sewerage Treatment Plant (STP) of the UEED located at Brari Nambal. He directed the UEED to ensure cleaning of all the blocked sewer lines and drainage lines within 10 days. He also urged for connecting all the sewer lines and drains with the STP within 15 days. In this connection, he directed to make the STP of UEED fully operationalize and to refurbish it. The Chief Engineer, UEED informed that 75 per cent work on restoration of their STP at Brari Nambal has been completed and it will take another one month to restore it fully. The Minister directed UEED to completely operationalize their STP within one and a half month.
The Minister directed the LAWDA to start dredging and cleaning of Brari Nambal Lagoon soon after the UEED connects the sewer lines and drains with their STP within next 15 days. The Srinagar Municipal Corporation was directed to remove garbage and filth from the peripheral areas of Brari Nambal especially from those areas where from the LAWDA has removed about 100 shanties yesterday. The Minister directed the SMC to ensure that so fresh encroachment or illegal filling of the area takes place.
The Vice Chairman LAWDA, Irfan Yaseen, Chief Engineer, UEED, Mohammad Hanief, Superintending Engineer and Executive Engineers of LAWDA and concerned officers of SMC were present in the meeting.