SHIMLA 14th February 2012 : Shri Ravinder Singh Ravi, Irrigation and Public Health Minister urged the senior officers of Department to expedite the works on projects announced by the Chief Minister in various assembly segments of the State. He was chairing the review meeting of the IPH Department here last evening.
The Minister said that the work on Sidhata and Balh irrigation projects should also be expedited. He urged for utilising the budget for various drinking water supply schemes, minor and medium irrigation schemes by end of the financial year. Shri Ravi stressed the need for completing the ongoing Rural Water Supply Schemes to benefit the people of the area. He asked for completing the Rural Water Supply Schemes in Shimla and Sirmaur districts on priority. The Minister said that all the major irrigation projects above rupees five crore and had completed 70 percent of its work should be completed within next two months.
He said that the process of appointing ‘Jal Rakshaks’ should be completed by end of February, 2012, adding that the online entry of employees of the department should be completed by this month.
He said that so far 1992 hand-pumps had been installed in the State in this financial year and remaining 508 hand-pumps would be installed by March end to complete the target of installing 2500 hand-pumps. He said that a team had been constituted to study the functionality of hand-pumps in the State which would report about the present status of already installed hand-pumps. He said that it had been observed that the platform under hand-pumps were not constructed in few areas and directed the officers to take action against the firms executing the construction work and failing to comply with the norms.
The Minister sought division-wise detailed report of various schemes of water treatment units. He lauded the efforts of the department for doing commendable job and said that Himachal Pradesh had emerged as a role model in implementing various schemes as was appreciated by Member Planning Commission on her recent visit to the State. He said that even the Chief Minister had lauded the efforts of the department in implementing various schemes which helped the State to maintain first position in implementation of 20 point programme.
Shri T.G. Negi, Principal Secretary, IPH, Engineer-in-Chief Shri R.K. Sharma, Chief Engineers, SE’s and other officers were also present on the occasion.
