Secretary PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control, Farooq Ahmad Shah, today said that the Government is committed to providing safe drinking water to each household and is working on measures to augment the existing resources to meet the gaps between demand and supply.The Secretary stated this during a meeting here, to review the progress on ongoing schemes of PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control in Pulwama and Shopian district.During the meeting, the Secretary was briefed about the progress with regard to various ongoing schemes being executed in Pulwama and Shopian under State plan, District plan and centrally-sponsored schemes like AIBP and PMKSY.The meeting was told that Lift Irrigation Scheme (LIS) Tral which has been sanctioned many years ago is lingering on because of the paucity of funds. The Secretary said that the LIS Tral scheme will be commissioned shortly and funds will be made available very soon so that the public may get due benefits from the said scheme. It was given out that tapping of the source from Drubjan Water Supply scheme in district Shopian, which will cater 103 villages consisting of 1.5 lakh population, will be commissioned shortly.It was also given out that nine Water Supply Schemes in division Shopian have become non-functional. The Secretary directed the concerned executive engineer to submit a detailed report so that work on making these functional is started at an earliest.Farooq Shah directed the concerned officials to submit a detail report regarding the replacement of old and aged filter plants with modern and scientific filter plants.
He also directed them that wherever iron is present in the groundwater, the same should be filtered using iron filter plants for which DPR needs to be submitted.Shah asked the concerned authorities to complete ongoing works within the stipulated time frame. He emphasized upon all the officers and engineers of the department to work with added zeal and zest in order to ensure timely completion of all ongoing projects. He said that no lapse of any kind shall be tolerated in such vital projects of public importance.He laid stress on strict implementation of the sustainability programme which is aimed to conserve the existing PHE schemes for a longer period. He directed the engineers to take all possible steps to improve the efficiency of schemes so that they serve their purpose. He also stressed the need for improving the work culture at the grass root level to provide better services to the people.He also stressed on regular repair and maintenance of machinery and other infrastructure at the water stations to avoid sudden breakdowns.The Secretary directed all the engineers to submit a daily report regarding ongoing works and asked DDC Pulwama to monitor their performance.In order to achieve the fixed targets of the department, he stressed upon all the concerned to put in extra efforts and work with proper coordination.Shah directed the engineers to keep vigil on the banks of river Jhelum and its flood channel to keep a check on illegal constructions and to curb unauthorized extraction of sand and minerals.District Development Commissioner, Chief Engineer I&FC, Executive Engineer and other officers of the department were present in the meeting.