Work on phase-II to start soon: Chief Engineer I&FC
Srinagar: Amid frequent threat of floods in Kashmir, Jammu and Kashmir government after Administrative accord to Comprehensive Plan for River Jhelum and its tributaries is all set to float the tenders till next week and start the work in order to safely mitigate a flood threat of 1,700 cubic metres (60,000 cusecs).
The Administrative Council on July 8 accorded administrative approval of Rs 1,623 crore for flood management of river Jhelum and its tributaries. The project, costing to Rs 1,623.43 crore under the Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP), intends to protect flood-prone areas along the river in at least six districts including Srinagar, Budgam, Baramulla, Anantnag, Pulwama and Bandipora.
Official sources said that the administrative accord has been received by the Irrigation and Flood Control (I & FC) department a few days back while the necessary steps in this regard have been taken to start the work on the ground.
The PMDP project for Comprehensive Flood Management works on river Jhelum was divided into two phases. The Phase-I worth Rs 399 Crores has been completed while the phase-II of the project worth Rs 1630 Crore would be completed in three years, they said. “It is a three-year project and the work over it will be started very soon,” they added.
Chief Engineer, Irrigation and Flood Control (I & FC) department, Naresh Kumar told a local news gathering agency that the tendering process has been started and would likely be uploaded within days.
“The phase-II of comprehensive plan for River Jhelum and its tributaries will be started shortly and we have already started work for preparing the tenders and will be floated at a shortest possible time,” he said.
Pertinently, several works including the dredging process and other related works were started in river Jhelum and other streams across the Valley following the 2014 deluge that damaged property worth crores in the Valley besides claiming dozens of lives as well. (KNO)
