A meeting of the Committee on Environment of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly was held here today under the Chairmanship of MLA, Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami to discuss the environmental issues.The meeting was attended by the concerned officers from departments of Pollution Control Board, Transport, Traffic, and FCS&CA.The Committee discussed the present status of measures taken by the concerned department to diffuse the high traffic density in the State especially in capital cities of Jammu and Srinagar to decrease the automobile exhaust emission.The meeting was informed that the automobile exhaust emission is one of the major threats to the environment and needs to be dealt at an earliest.Legislators, Neelam Kumar Langeh, Devinder Kumar Manyal, Bashir Ahmad Dar, Mohammad Abass Wani, Abdul Rahim Rather and Anjum Fazili attended the meeting and gave their valuable suggestions for safeguarding the pollution free environment in the State, besides stressing for water transports system.The Committee directed the concerned authorities to promote quality public transport so that people will prefer it over their personal, adding it will greatly help in reducing pollution concern.
The Chairman directed the concerned traffic and transport authorities to submit the detailed report of Samba matador accident and submit the same to the Assembly Secretariat at an earliest. The Committee asked the concerned authorities to conduct a survey to identify the number of total vehicles plying on the State roads and also asked for their upgradation as per the requirement.The Committee opined that there is a need to evolve an effective mechanism to monitor and minimize the hazardous effects of Traffic congestions, besides having a proper monitoring of Kerosene oil supply.The Committee stressed for proper implementation of directions and suggestions given by the members of the Committee.
Commissioner Secretary Transport, Hemant Kumar Sharma briefed the Committee about the steps being taken to deal with the present traffic situation particularly in capital cities. It was revealed that the Government has constituted a committee of 10 members under the Chairmanship of the then Chief Secretary for implementing of comprehensive mobility plans for the twin cities of Jammu and Srinagar.
Mr. Sharma said that the State Government has engaged RITES to suggest measures for planning better traffic and transportation facilities in the cities of Jammu and Srinagar, taking into consideration the growth of existing vehicle population, travel pattern, existing infrastructure and road space available.Chairman Pollution Control Board, B Siddharatha Kumar, Commissioner Secretary, Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs, Shafiq Ahmed Raina also briefed the Committee about the precautionary measures taken to curb the environment degradation caused due to noise, air pollutions and other various reasons.The Chairman directed the concerned authorities to work in unison and gear up their respective field functionaries to ensure pollution free environment in the State.Secretary Legislative Assembly M R Singh, Transport Commissioner Saugat Biswas, Controller LMD Vipra Bhal, Managing Director SRTC Mir Afroz, Director Ecology, Environment and Remote Sensing, Om Prakash Sharma and other senior officers of concerned department were present in the meeting.