Under Swan River Flood Management and Integrated Land Development Project of Swan Tributaries, a sum of Rs. 700 crore has been got approved by Irrigation and Public Health Minister Ravinder Ravi from Government of India.
Minister discloses it in the review meeting of senior officers of the department. In the meeting Minister also reviewed progress of all 55 drinking water projects of over Rs. two crore under implementation in the State and directed the officers to ensure their completion as soon as possible. Going into detail of major Shah Nehar Irrigation Project and Medium Irrigation Projects as Sidhata and Balh valley projects, the Minister asked for their completion on war footing and was ensured by the officers that these projects would be completed by March, 2012.
The Minister also discussed the Command Area Development (CAD) Programme being implemented for Shah Nehar and Balh valley at a cost of Rs. 80 crore for stepping up pace of utilization of irrigation potential and improve agriculture productivity. Minister sought information of installation of handpumps and status of those handed over to panchayats for minor repairs. He emphasized for payment of Rs. 200 per handpump to be made to panchayats for minor repairs as part of decentralization of works and stated that major repairs would be conducted by the department itself.
Under Flood Management Programme (FMP), schemes worth more than Rs. 1200 crore were proposed to be submitted to Government of India for central assistance. He directed to expand the flood protection activities in the State to protect valuable agriculture land and forest wealth too. The Minister asked for early completion of channelization of Bata River in Paonta tehsil besides that of Seer khad. He stressed for total transparency in functioning of the department and advised to ensure ‘e-tendering procedure to be adopted for procurement of GI pipes and other material being purchased from time to time in better interest of department thereby bringing transparency and discouraging pooling and ensuring competitive rates.
Principal Secretary, IPH Narender Chauhan, Engineer-in-Chief R.K. Sharma besides, Chief Engineers of various IPH Zones, Superintending Engineers were also present in the meeting.
