Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Sham Lal Chaudhary, today conducted an extensive tour of various areas of Jourian in Akhnoor to assess the status of development works being executed in the area besides taking stock of public grievances.The Minister inspected mini tube well at Lahm having pump discharge capacity of 5,000 and reservoir tanks capacity of 10,000 and 15,000 gallons respectively.The Minister was apprised of the inter connecting pipe system and provision of adequate number of hand pumps supplementing the routine supply of water as means of ensuring continuous and uninterrupted water supply to the area.The Minister also took stock of Border Supply Scheme for Budwal and Channi areas which was initially introduced in 2002. The infrastructure houses a 20,000 gallons water reservoir with 5,000 discharge capacity catering to the agricultural and domestic water requirements of 100 and 200 households inhabiting Budwal and Channi areas respectively.
Addressing the grievances of the locals, the Minister directed the officials to take corrective measures and apply suitable technical solutions for resolving their issues at an earliest.While inspecting the tube well with 40,000 gallons Over Head Tank (OTH) at Gigrial, the Minister stressed for timely de-silting of irrigation canals in convergence with MGNREGA to augment the agricultural water requirements of Gigrial and Doian areas.The Minister took stock of issues being faced in the maintenance of tube wells including non-functional tube wells, repairs, arrangement for replacements, spare transformers, stand by machinery, booster motors among others.Later, the Minister reviewed the head works of New Pratap Canal (NPC) on Chenab river. In compliance to the Indus water treaty, NPC channelizes 438 cusecs of water along the 51 km long stretch to Pulanwala for assisting irrigated agriculture.