Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Sham Lal Choudhary, today conducted an extensive tour of flood-prone areas of the Srinagar City to take first hand appraisal of the situation arising out of torrential rainfall. MLC Ramesh Arora, Chief Engineer I&FC, Chief Engineer PHE, and officers from concerned Departments accompanied the Minister.The Minister visited low lying areas of the City including Ram Munshi Bagh, Zero Bridge, Mehjoor Nagar, Ram Bagh, Aloocha Bagh, Tengpora and Bemina.The Minister was briefed that the PHE Department has deployed its men and machinery to carry out restoration works wherever damages were reported due to incessant rains and snowfall. It was said that the Department has sufficient stock of chemicals which are required for the water treatment purposes.It was said the I&FC Department has deployed its men and machinery in City and has distributed 12.65 lakh sand bags in flood prone areas to augment embankments along the river banks.
The Minister directed the concerned to ensure additional dumping of sand bags alongwith deployment of men and machinery at all the vital locations in the valley.He directed the concerned authorities to speed up the pace of embankment protection works and complete these within the shortest possible time so that people do not face any kind of inconvenience.He directed the Chief Engineer I&FC to take up the flood protection work at all the vulnerable spots to strengthen embankments at various locations of the Jhelum River and its tributaries. During the visit, the Minister also interacted with many public deputations and assured them that the Government will formulate a comprehensive flood management project for river Jhelum, so as to increase water carrying capacity of the river and minimize chances of breaches over its banks.