Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Sham Lal Choudhary today chaired a meeting to review the progress on Flood Protection works under Flood Management Project Phase –I being executed by the I&FC department including Jhelum dredging works, construction of toe wall, revetments and earth cutting and other works in Jhelum Flood Spill Channel.Secretary PHE, I&FC Saurabh Bhagat, Superintending Engineers, Executive Engineers and other concerned senior officers of the department attended the meeting.During the meeting, the Minister was apprised that the dredging works in Jhelum River at Anantnag, Kakapora, Srinagar, Panjinara, Sopore and Baramulla is underway and against the target of 16 lakh cu meters, the department has dredged around 7.10 lakh cu meters of sand and muck from the river.Apprising about the status of construction of toe wall from Anantnag to Sumbal, it was informed that work is underway but the water level is hindering the process. It was told to the chair that work on construction two Bridges at Shariefabad in District Budgam and Naidkhai in District Bandipora being executed by JKPCC is also underway.The meeting was further informed that work on revetments at Anantnag, Kakapora, Srinagar, Panjinara, Sumbal is also underway.
Regarding the ongoing works in Flood Spill Channel at Shariefabad, the Minister was briefed about the status of works including land acquisition process, re-sectioning, creation of earthen bunds, construction of protection walls and related works for the restoration of the Flood spill channel to its original shape.It was informed that tree cutting work has almost been completed except few places and earth cutting work is underway.Addressing the meeting, the Minister directed the concerned officers to excavate a temporary parallel drainage to drain out the rain water so that the excavation work isn’t affected.The Minister also enquired about the land acquisition process and directed the concerned officers to clear the bottlenecks if any so that the works can be executed in a speedy manner. It was informed that around out of total 1759 kanals of land to be acquired for the flood protection works, 1500 kanals has been already acquired.Sham Lal Choudhary asked the officers to take up the works in mission mode and complete the task well within the schedule fixed by the Union Ministry of Water Resources adding that concerned Engineers should speed up the pace of excavation works being executed in Flood Spill Channel.“There is a need to prepare a weekly plan of action and follow it strictly to achieve the target in given time”, the Minister said adding that monthly status of progress will be reviewed for putting in a close monitoring mechanism.
The Minister said that sincere efforts need to be put in to expedite the early completion of dredging work especially in the Srinagar and Baramulla reaches to meet the targets set for December- 2017.Speaking on the issue of less number of field staff, the Minister said that the issue will be resolved and required number of staff will be made available to further speed up the works.The Minister asked the officers to put in strenuous efforts in completing the project without wasting a single day. ‘He said that it is the responsibility of each one to give their best to save our own people from flood like situations and for that we need to come up to the expectations of people by completing the project in given time’.Taking strong note on illegal dredging in Jhelum river, the Minister directed the concerned officers to take appropriate action against the illegal dredgers. He asked for submitting a detailed report on action taken against people involved in this illegal activity and also directed for evolving a mechanism to put a complete check on manual dredging without having proper license issued by the department.