Minister for PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Sham Lal Choudhary today conducted an extensive tour of areas along river Tawi to get first-hand information about the losses caused to life and property due to the rise in water level in view of incessant rains in the region.During the tour, the Minister directed the officers of the concerned department to assess the situation and come out with solutions for immediately restoring the affected areas and preventing further damages. He directed for keeping a close vigil on the situation and take appropriate measures to deal with any exigency.Chief Engineer, Irrigation and Flood Control apprised the Minister that the maximum water level of river Tawi recorded today was 19 feet which was 2 feet above the danger mark (17 feet), Chenab was flowing at 34 feet, below the danger mark (34 feet), Basantar at 7 feet against the danger mark of 5.5 feet, Devak was flowing at 4 feet, i.e 0.25 feet above the danger mark (4.25 feet) and the maximum discharge level of Ujh was recorded at 1,19,000 cusecs against a danger level of 85,000 cusecs.
The Minister was informed that the department was regularly monitoring the situation and State Disaster Response Force and Defense forces are kept on high alert for immediately responding to any untoward incident takes place in any part of the region.The Minister directed for taking short and long term steps to prevent floods including developing concrete embankments to prevent any loss to life and property. He directed the engineer to identify the vulnerable areas prone to floods and preparing the DPRs for plugging the gaps.Meanwhile, the Minister has appealed the general public not to venture close to the rivers and refrain from taking their livestock along the rivers for grazing in view of the unprecedented water rise due to monsoon rains.Earlier in the day, the Minister called an emergency meeting of the engineers of the Irrigation and Flood Control Department to assess the levels of various rivers in the region including Chenab, Tawi, Ujh, Basantar and Devak were flowing.The Minister was informed, in the meeting, that the Ranbir canal and its distributaries have been temporarily closed as a remedial measure.Chief Engineer, Irrigation & Flood Control Rajeev Gandotra, Superintending Engineer, and Executive Engineers accompanied the Minister during the tour.