CS for harnessing JK’s plentiful water resources judiciously
Reviews potable water supply scenario; Says 417 languishing schemeswith investment of Rs 682 crapproved for funding through JKIDFC
SRINAGAR, OCTOBER, 25: Chief Secretary, BVR Subrahmanyam today called for optimally and judiciously harnessing J&K’s plentiful water resources to provide safe drinking water to every household in the State.
Chief Secretary said this while chairing a high-level meeting with senior officers of the Public Health Engineering (PHE) to review the water supply scenario in the State. He also took a comprehensive review of the flagship schemes like National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) aimed at augmenting the potable water supply in uncovered areas.
Secretary, PHE, Irrigation &Flood Control, Farooq Ahmad Shah, Chief Engineers and other senior officers were present at the meeting.
Chief Secretary said to ensure completion of all the water supply schemes in stipulated time-frame with assured funding, 417 such schemes, across the state,have been approved for funding through JKIDFC under Languishing Projects Programme involving a cumulative investment of Rs 682 crore. He said all these pending schemes are scheduled to be completed within next 18 months.
He directed the officers of the PHE Department to complete the work on these schemes within the stipulated timeframe and ensure quality is maintained in execution. He also called for focusing on coverage of uncovered areas.
Chief Secretary stressed the need for working out a well-thought-out strategy before framing modalities of new water supply schemes, in particular relating to source depletion and long-term viability. He asked Chief Engineers PHE to ensure that all technical processes are completed before starting work on new schemes.
The Chief Secretary also called for sensitizing the people about judicious and economical use of drinking water to maintain a balance in the demand and supply.
Earlier, the Secretary PHE, I&FC Farooq Ahmad Shah briefed the Chief Secretary about various ongoing works and apprised him about issues related to fund constraints, which are hampering work on certain critical projects. He also briefed the CS about the mechanism devised to complete all languishing projects in the state.
Giving details about various ongoing schemes, the Secretary said that under National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP), 28 schemes are presently under execution, while under NABARD 79 schemes and under LIC 89 schemes are nearing completion. He added that the total cost of all the schemes is around Rs 1601 crore.
Chief Engineer, PHE, Kashmir, Chief Engineer, PHE Jammu, Superintending Engineers, Executive Engineers of all Divisions of Kashmir Zone and other concerned were present in the meeting.
Chief Secretary reviews implementation of USD 250 million JTFRP with World Bank Mission
SRINAGAR, OCTOBER 25: Chief Secretary, B V R Subrahmanyam Thursday chaired a wrap up meeting with the visiting World Bank Mid Term Review Mission led by Task Team Leader; Deepak Singh to review the implementation of the World Bank funded USD 250 Million Jhelum & Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP).
The World Bank Mission which had arrived here on October, 22 visited various under construction projects in Srinagar and also held discussion with various JTFRP units.
Financial Commissioner, H&UDD, Principal Secretary, I&C Department, Principal Secretary, PD&MD, ADGP, Home Guards/SDRF, Commissioner Secretary, PW(R&B), Secretary, DMRR&R, Chief Executive Officer, JTFRP and other senior officers attended the wrap up meeting.
Team Leader, Deepak Singh while sharing his views about the progress achieved in the implementation of JTFRP, observed that overall progress has been slow. However, he added that the recent decision of the State Government to integrate JTFRP with J&K ERA is likely to ensure a seamless and quick execution process. He said work/consultancy contracts of 100 Million $ (40%) need to be awarded and disbursement of 10 Million $ (4%) achieved by mid-December. Presently, work contracts of 23 Million $ and consultancies of 12 Million $ have been awarded besides disbursement of 5 Million $ has been achieved. He also shared his views on strengthening SDMA and creating a permanent set up/structure that will focus on preempting and preventing potential disasters.
Describing JTFRP as a high priority project for Jammu & Kashmir; which is being monitored at the level of the Prime Minister, Chief Secretary observed that having identified the constraints and institutional bottlenecks hampering the accelerated pace of execution, a decision was taken to integrate JTFRP with J&K ERA, which had acquired the requisite expertise in the procedures and guidelines followed in the case of externally funded projects.
Chief Secretary assured the World Bank Team that JTFRP will be given impetus to achieve the desired outcomes. “We will see good progress in coming months especially by May, 2019”, he said and added that over 40% of the tenders will be awarded by December, 2018 also.
