Parliamentary panel takes stock of waterbodies in J&K

Tribune News Service

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New Delhi, August 17

In its first visit to Jammu and Kashmir since the Abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the state on August 5, 2019, the parliamentary committee on subordinate legislation reviewed the health of the region’s water bodies, including the Dal and Wular Lakes today and urged UT administration to make Srinagar the cleanest hill station in India instead of the 36th it is at present.

Led by Congress Rajya Sabha MP from Punjab Partap Singh Bajwa, the committee arrived in Srinagar yesterday on a study tour and assessed the implementation of waste management rules framed under the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986 in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir and was informed that tenders for bio-remediation of nine polluted rivers had already been floated.

“The special focus of discussions was the Swachh Bharat Mission and cleanliness of rivers and lakes in J&K. The panel also visited Dal Lake to study the measures used for its cleaning,” Bajwa said.

In a presentation to the panel, chief secretary Arun Kumar Mehta said unemployment rate in J&K had fallen to 11 pc despite the Covid pandemic and the target was to lower it to 5 pc.

Mehta also said the 73rd74th amendments of the Constitution bringing governance to the grassroots level had been fully adopted in J&K.

He said the UT had the distinction of being an open defecation free region and every public penny spent was accounted for and shared on a public portal.

The chief secretary informed the delegation that 4500 youth clubs under Mission Youth started functioning in J and K from August 15 this year and 9514 projects worth Rs 3900 crore had been completed with 6167 projects within a year.

“Every project has to be mandatorily e-tendered bringing total transparency in the system of award of contracts and quality of work executed,” Mehta said.

In a separate presentation on waste management rules, the JK officials said tenders for bio-remediation of nine polluted rivers had already been floated and in compliance with Biomedical Waste Management Rules, the UT had constituted the State level Advisory Committee and District level Monitoring Committee.

“Action has also been taken regarding implementation of Construction and Demolition Waste Management Rules, e-Waste, Plastic Waste Management Rules and Hazardous and other Waste Management Rules,” the delegation was told.

In his presentation, Secretary, Forests Sanjeev Verma presented the status of cleanliness of various water bodies including lakes and rivers.

He shared the studies of four lakes including Dal, Wular, Mansar and Surinsar and said PH, oxygen demand, and biological oxygen demand are all within permissible limits in these water bodies.

The committee was informed that de-silting, de-weeding and extraction of lily pads was underway.

Commissioner, Srinagar Municipal Corporation told the panel that 60 pc of JK’s 1.84 lakh households in the municipal area were serviced by door to door collection.

The panel also engaged oil companies like IOCL, BPCL, HPCL, ONGC and GAIL about the codes of practice for emergency response and disaster management plans.

Later the committee met the representatives of RBI, SBI, J&K Bank, UCO Bank, Union Bank and Canara Bank about compliance with priority sector lending.

The committee will end its Valley visit on August 19.