Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 19: The Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Sham Lal Sharma today chaired a high level meeting of officers and engineers of various wings of twin departments and reviewed the progress on the ongoing developmental schemes as well as action taken on the decisions of the previous meeting.
The meeting was attended by Commissioner/Secretary PHE, I&FC, Dr Pawan Kotwal, Chief Engineer PHE, Jammu, Susheel Aima, Chief Engineer, I&FC, H C Jerth, Chief Engineer RTIC, K K Gupta, besides SEs/XEn of PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control and Ground Water of Jammu province.
The Minister was briefed about the action taken in connection with uncovered education institutions, availability of card rider at filling station for tankers, computerization of bills, implementation of welfare programmes under NRDWP, marking of private tube wells, audit and inspection, functioning of communication and capacity development unit, installation of water meters, installation of sign boards at irrigation canals, progress on targets of providing drinking water to all habitations and households, status of Nai Garh and Dess irrigation and water supply schemes etc.
The meeting was also told that 100% paddy transplantation has been done in the areas fed by Ranbir and Partap Canals besides 99 percent in other districts of Jammu region
The Minister while getting feedback, stressed upon the Chief Engineers of the concerned departments to personally monitor functioning of various ongoing schemes and activities of the field functionaries as well as AEEs, AEs and JEs for smooth functioning of the system. He said monitoring at all levels was imperative to provide best services to the people and farmers.
Sham said that access to safe drinking water is the right of every common man and the Government is committed to provide clean drinking water to each and every corner of the state.
Regarding development schemes, the Minister said that during five and half years unprecedented development has been witnessed in the three regions of the state. He said that during this period several projects pertaining to PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control have been taken in hand and completed. He asked the executing agencies to make optimum use of funds and complete the ongoing projects in time bound manner so that the people may not face any difficulty in getting the services under PHE and irrigation sectors.
Sham said that the Government was highly concerned about the scarcity of water supply in urban and peripheral areas of the State, adding that number of WSS, tube wells have been taken up to provide and augment potable water facilities in these water stressed areas. He said that the Government was also working on a plan to modernize and revive all the traditional water sources in kandi and hilly areas and number of traditional ponds and tanks reviewed works were also competed for augmentation of water. He asked the PHE authorities to immediately start the laying of water supply pipes in uncovered and water deficit areas.
To further improve the irrigational facilities, the Minister directed the officers of flood control department to identify the areas for development of check dams for augmenting the irrigation facilities and recharge the water table in the uncovered areas. He stressed the need for judicious use of irrigation water so that all stakeholders can take benefit of the available resources.
Follow our WhatsApp channel