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| Dredging of Jhelum goes at snail's pace | | | Ishtiyaq Ahmad
Early Times Report
Srinagar, June 24: As Kolkata based company entrusted with dredging of the Srinagar and Baramulla stretches of Jhelum has not been able to meet the timeline, the government on Friday said that two more master dredgers are to be engaged within one week.
Sources said that ongoing dredging of river Jhelum way behind target at all the places and the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has taken serious note of the extremely slow pace of work by Kolkata-based Reach Dredgers.
Irrigation and Flood Control Minister however denied that the dredging was going on at slow pace but said that two more master dredgers are to be engaged in the next week. "Government's first priority is to restore the width of the river and flood channel and according to my knowledge the dredging is going on across the breadth and length of the Jhelum. We have fixed the target for the dredging company and I want to inform you that the company is engaging two more master dredgers within a week," the Minister informed ET.
He said that the company has been asked to complete dredging of seven lakh cubic metres in Srinagar stretch of Jhelum in 12 months and simultaneously, nine lakh cubic metres are to be excavated from Baramulla stretch in 20 months.
The Minister informed that the dredging of river Jhelum has been divided into two components. "In the first component, carried out by the department itself, around 9,50,000 cum dredging has been done, which has also generated a revenue of Rs.3.5 crore. In the second phase, a target of 16,00,000 cum has been fixed for Kolkata-based Research Dredgers for mechanical dredging of the river," he said.
The minister said that the mechanical dredging would continue round-the-year even during rains and irrespective of the changes in the levels of water in the Jhelum. "The carrying capacity of the river has been increased to 45,000 cusecs from 33,000 cusecs previously," he claimed.
He said that a component of Rs.34 crore has been fixed for dredging of the river while as Rs.75 crore will be spent for strengthening of river embankments and spillover channels under Flood Management Works on Jhelum Phase I costing Rs.399.29 crore.
Presently, two master dredgers engaged by Reach Dredgers are carrying out mechanical dredging at Shivpora and Sopore.
It is to mention here that the Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has also expressed serious concern over the slow pace of work by Kolkata-based Reach Dredgers, tasked with the mechanical dredging of the Srinagar and Baramulla stretches of the Jhelum.
The Chief Minister had reviewed the progress of the ongoing dredging of the Jhelum from Anantnag to Baramulla at a high-level meeting at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Conference Centre.
She had emphasized that weekly timeline be fixed to ensure that the dredging was carried out speedily so as to relieve the people from the perpetual fear of the floods that grips them during heavy rain.
"People have already waited for a long time and any further delay in dredging work will be totally unacceptable," the Chief Minister had said. |
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