The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Legislative Assembly today called upon the functionaries of the Irrigation & Flood Control for speeding up the pace of all ongoing irrigation projects across the state for their time bound completion.The PAC that met here today under the Chairmanship of Mian Altaf Ahmad, besides reviewing the status of various on-going irrigation projects also examined and deliberated on the CAG’s Audit paras (2014-15) relating to the PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Department and sought justification from the concerned functionaries to drop these. Legislators, Nawang Rigzin Jora, Ch. Sukhnandan Kumar, Ajaz Ahmad Khan, Mohammad Yousuf Bhat, Rajesh Gupta and R. S. Pathania were present in the meeting.The Committee stressed on the concerned authorities to monitor the progress of all ongoing irrigation and PHE schemes to ensure their quality and time bound execution. The Members stressed the need for adhering to the norms and guidelines strictly as per the specifications to avoid the audit objections in future. They also called upon the engineers to design the schemes keeping in view the topography and viability so that their benefits percolate down to the targeted population.
While discussing the status of Mansar Drinking Water Scheme, the Committee directed the concerned to take necessary steps for its time bound completion with special focus on its quality as per the specification and norms to achieve its objective.The Committee also urged the concerned authorities to take necessary steps to upgrade the PHE infrastructure to ensure adequate water supply to the people of old Jammu city. It observed that the demand of drinking water has been increased in the city manifold and authorities should work on the long term strategy to overcome the difficulty, especially during the summer months.Commissioner/Secretary Irrigation & Flood Control, Saurabh Bhagat, Chief Engineer, Irrigation and Flood Control, Rajeev Gandotra gave resume of the activities and present status of ongoing projects/schemes of PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Department, besides Action Taken Report on CAG’s Audit Paras pertaining to the department.Deputy Accountant General, Comptroller Audit General Officer J&K, Chief Engineer PHE Jammu, Chief Engineer RTIC Jammu, Director Finance PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, besides senior officers of concerned department and Assembly Secretariat were also present in the meeting.