Minister for PHE, Irrigation &Flood Control, Sham Lal Choudhary today convened a meeting with the concerned officers at Samba and Kathua to take stock of the water supply position and irrigation facilities in these districts.Minister for Industries and Commerce, Chander Prakash Ganga, Member Parliament, Samsher Singh Manhas, legislators Dr. Manyal, Kuldeep Raj , Commissioner Secretary PHE,I&FC, Sanjeev Verma and concerned officers of the department were present in the meeting.The Minister took a comprehensive review of the functioning of the department and directed the concerned officers to take requisite steps to augment water supply in these area and ensure people donot face any inconvenience during the summer season. He directed the officers to put in dedicated efforts to improve the public delivery mechanism and time bound redressal of public grievances.
While receiving appraisal regarding water supply status, the minister was informed that 60 tube-wells are functioning in samba district. The minister directed for making all non functional tube-wells functional immediately and asked for rationalization of the field staff between Samba and Vijaypur PHE sub divisions to overcome the shortage of the staff.Later the Minister conducted an extensive tour of district Samba and Kathua to take stock of the water supply position and irrigation facilities. He also visited the Ranjit Sagar Dam and Ravi Tawi Irrigation project at Shahpur Kandi in Punjab and discussed the issue of irrigation facilities with the concerned officers.The minister also convened a public meet at Dayalachak and took stock of the problems of the people. He directed the concerned departments to take timely measures to mitigate the problems of the people.Member Parliament Samsher Singh Manahas released Rs 35 lacks rupee from his CDF to the PHE department for purchase of spare motor pumps.