Minster for PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control Sham Lal Choudhary today said the department is taking various path-breaking initiatives to provide potable drinking to inaccessible areas of the State and special focus is being given to supplying water for irrigation to every agricultural field.Winding up the discussion on demand of grants for PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control department, the Minister said the mandate of the department is to develop policies, programmes and practices for effective use of the State’s water resources in an equitable and sustainable manner.Under National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP), the government is focusing on ensuring drinking water security by adopting holistic approach through conjunctive use of surface, ground and rain water harvesting, the Minister said, adding that 1,353 Piped Water Supply Schemes are presently going on in the State under the project.
He further informed the House that 93 schemes are being executed in the State under LIC loan assistance while as under NABARD loan assistance, new water supply projects costing Rs 323.92 crore have been formulated and are in the process of sponsoring for NABARD funding.
The Minister further informed that Draft State Water Policy has been put in the public domain for feedback. The comprehensive study of morphology of Jhelum and Tawi has been started while as for devising management and control measures to tackle floods, Early Warning System would be placed in Jhelum, Tawi and Chenab, he added.Enumerating the initiatives taken by the department for augmenting water supply in Srinagar city, the Minister informed that construction of two water supply schemes viz. WSS Sukhnag and WSS Tangnar were taken up under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) at an estimated cost of Rs 269.37 crore. The commissioning of WS, Sukhnag added supply of 10 MGD water to the city while as WSS Tangnar would also add same quantity of water after its commissioning, he added.The Government has started construction of Activated Carbon Chamber for Water Treatment Plant at Pokhribal at an estimated cost of Rs 54 lakh,” the Minister said, adding that, Sukhnag System is being connected with existing system of various villages in Budgam at an amount of Rs 6.66 crore under Revised Master Plan of Greater Srinagar city.
The Minister informed that proposals under consideration for improving water supply in Srinagar include construction of WSS Harwan at an estimated cost of Rs 195 crore and construction of another WSS Alusteng to be executed at an estimated cost of Rs 145 crore.The Government is also contemplating to improve existing distribution system in Greater Srinagar, besides inter connecting part-I of Pampore with WSS Tangnar, extending piped network system in Hazratbal constituency, laying Raw Water Main from Rangil to Water Treatment Plant, Pokhribal and shifting pump station from Dal Lake to off-shore across Boulevard Road, he added. Listing out the steps taken by the department for improving water supply in Jammu city, the Minister informed that Detailed Project Report (DPR) for “Augmentation of water supply to Jammu city from river Chenab Phase-I” amounting to Rs 624.52 crore has been forwarded to the Department of Economic Affairs, GoI for funding under JICA. The DPR under Smart City, for drilling of six new tube wells, creation of Capacitor Banks at pumping stations and improvement of water supply at JDA colony Roop Nagar, EWS colony Roop Nagar, Umer colony, Malik Market and Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar has also been sent to the concerned Union Ministry for approval, he added.The Minister informed that Water Supply Schemes at Bhaderwah, Sunderbani, Anantnag and Sopore have been completed while as Samba, Udhampur, Kathua and Doda would be completed under UIDSSMT soon.Emphasizing on the need to infuse transparency in the working of the department, the Minister said the government will go for computerization of stocks and stores, MIS for monitoring physical execution of works, protocol would be laid out for water testing and a mobile van would be pressed into service for conducting spot tests in the field."The Government has established 22 district level laboratories at various district headquarters with 76 sub-divisional labs while as two State level laboratories at twin cities of Srinagar and Jammu and would be completed soon”, the Minister said.
The Minister further said that the Government has started five Major Medium Irrigation projects in the State, out of which four projects costing Rs 203.03 crore are being executed under AIBP and one project costing Rs 29.02 crore is being completed under NABARD loan assistance.Under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (PMKSY), the state Government has framed District Irrigation Plans (Minor Irrigation) at an estimated cost of Rs 14,681.18 crore, the Minister said, adding that, plans from 21 districts of the State have been forwarded to the Centre for funding under the scheme.Under Minor Irrigation Sector, 533 Minor Irrigation projects were taken up in the State for implementation under AIBP at an estimated cost of Rs 1435.29 crore out of which 219 schemes have been completed, he informed."The department has taken up 31 Protection/anti-erosion works for execution under Flood Management Programme at the cost of Rs 1,018.63 crore out of which an amount of Rs 236.08 crore have been utilized", he said. Informing the House about the status of dredging of river Jhelum, the Minister said, “In phase-I, 81,000 cubic meter has been dredged in Srinagar reach while as 2 lakh cubic meter has been dredged in Baramulla reach.” The dredgers are working extensively in Srinagar, Panzinar, Sopore and Baramulla, he added.The Minister further informed that “Flood Protection to River Chenab” project to be executed at an estimated cost of Rs 2,314 crore has been conceptualized and DPR has been submitted to the Centre for sanction under Flood Management Programme (FMP). The State has also submitted six flood management projects for Jammu costing Rs 607.18 crore to the Ministry of Water Resources, Govt. of India for approval, he added.The Minister informed the House that the Government has issued regularization orders to 516 Daily Rated Workers, whose names were cleared by the Empowered Committee. The cases of adhoc/contractual employees are being examined as per Special Provisions Act, 2010, he added.He further informed that the Government has succeeded in bringing 17,495 casual laborers in Jammu and 1,679 casual laborers in Kashmir under Biometric attendance system. During the last two years, the Government has also settled 160 SRO-43 cases, he added.
During the current year, 3666 hand pumps were repaired while as 169 new hand pumps were drilled in the State, the Minister said, adding that the process for constructing Water Supply schemes for two AIIMS has been initiated at Vijaypur in Jammu and Awantipora in Kashmir province.The Minister informed the House that Srinagar city has a population of 19.96 lakh souls (including floating population) and to cater to this population, 76.50 million gallons per day (MGD) of drinking water is required while as approximately 65.12 MGD of water is required to cater to 16.48 lakh souls in Jammu including the floating population.Responding to the issues raised by the members in the House during discussion, the Minister assured them for their early redressal and sought their cooperation in effective implementation of water supply schemes and other works related to the department in the State.Later, the House passed the grants of Public Health Engineering, Irrigation and Flood Control Departments for the year 2017-18 moved by the Minister, amounting to Rs. 194903.75 lakh and 163537.57 lakh respectively with voice vote.Earlier, several legislators took part in the Discussion on Demand of Grants for Public Health Engineering, Irrigation and Flood Control Departments including Abdul Rahim Rather, Shamim Firdous, Rajeev Sharma, Gulzar Ahmad Wani, Engineer Rashid, Hakeem Mohammad Yaseen, Choudhary Qamar Hussain, Javaid Rana, Mumtaz Ahmad Khan, Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari, and Sheikh Ishfaq Jabar.