Minister of State for PHE, I&FC, Forest, Animal, Sheep Husbandry and Fisheries, Mir Zahoor Ahmad, today chaired a meeting to review the progress of various developmental works under Public Health Engineering (PHE) sector in Kashmir Division.The Minister stressed on the PHE officials to work with utmost dedication and zeal and improve the work culture at the grass root level to provide better services to the people.He also called for strict implementation of sustainability programme aimed to conserve the existing PHE schemes for a longer period. He directed the engineers to take all possible steps to improve the efficiency of the schemes so that their benefits percolate to the intended.Mir Zahoor exhorted upon the departmental functionaries to work diligently to provide safe potable water to the people especially during the holy month of Ramadan. He also asked them to ensure regular maintenance of the filtration plants for providing safe and hygienic drinking water to the people. He also called for regular repair and maintenance of machinery and other infrastructure at the water stations to avoid sudden breakdowns.
It was given out that as many as 358 Water Supply Schemes (WSS) were taken up under National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP), 28 schemes under NABARD and 29 schemes under LIC for execution in Kashmir Division. Around 52 WSSs have been completed during 2017-18 and 72 schemes are expected to be completed during this fiscal.The meeting was informed that an amount of Rs 125 crore has been earmarked for augmentation of drinking water facilities for the year 2018-19 in the Division.It was disclosed that to provide drinking water facilities to each and every hamlet in the Valley, the department has installed 20000 Hand Pumps in various areas of Kashmir Division and this year more 460 such pumps at a cost of Rs 12.48 crore are being installed in the Valley.Secretary, PHE, I&FC, M. Raju briefed the Minister about the overall functioning and future programmes and plans envisaged by the PHE Department for this year.Superintending Engineers, Executive Engineers and other senior officers of the PHE Department attended the meeting.