Excelsior Correspondent
KATHUA, May 3: Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Sham Lal Choudhary today reviewed the pace progress of various PHE and Flood Control projects in Samba and Kathua districts, at a high level meeting.
The meeting was attended by senior functionaries of Public Health Engineering (PHE), Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) and Ravi Tawi Irrigation Complex (RTIC) Departments of the twin districts.
The meeting was informed that 14 National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) schemes were completed in Kathua Division during 2016-17 against the target of 17 schemes. For the year 2017-18, seven more schemes are proposed for the district and tenders for the same would be floated soon. The Minister directed the XEn, PHE Kathua to complete the last year’s leftover schemes by May 31.
DC Kathua, Ramesh Kumar stressed on providing standby motors and immediate repair of damages at the PHE installations in the areas vulnerable to water crisis during summer season. He also stressed for exploring alternative source of water for meeting the demand of uncovered villages. He suggested on taking advance measures in flood prone Tarnah and Chabbe Chak areas before the onset of monsoon. The de-silting of Kathua canal and restoration of breaches in other canals was also stressed upon.
The Minister, after reviewing water supply scenario, sanctioned 10 hand pumps for Kathua district and assured that standby boosting pumps will be provided for the areas which are vulnerable to the water crisis in the summer months. He further directed the concerned officers to immediately start emergency work at Tarnah and Chabbe Chak to prevent the loss during rainy season after visiting flood prone areas.
In District Samba a total of 14 NRDWP schemes were proposed for the year 2016-17 of which 12 schemes have been completed, while 8 more schemes are targeted to be taken up in the district during the year 2017-18.
MLA Samba, Devinder Manyal exhorted upon the PHE Department to devise a holistic plan to provide safe drinking water to all villages/hamlets of the district. He also emphasized on timely repair and proper upkeep of PHE installations to avoid inconvenience to the people during summer season.
Taking detailed appraisal of various components of schemes, the Minister laid stress on effective implementation of sustainability programme aimed at to conserve the existing PHE schemes. He directed the engineers to take all possible steps to improve the efficiency of schemes so that these serve the purpose effectively. He also stressed the need for improving the work culture at the grassroots level to provide better services to the people.
Later, the Minister visited Lift Station Lakhanpur and inaugurated additional transformer installed to ease load on the pumps during peak Kharif season. He also visited check dam at village Khokhayal of Kathua district and inquired about status of work.
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