JAMMU: An amount Rs. 9.82 crore has been incurred, so far, on construction of the Mini Secretariat at Batamaloo. This information was given by Minister for Education, Sakeena Itoo, while replying on behalf of the Chief Minister in response to a question raised by Member Tariq Hameed Karra.
She further informed the House that the decision to execute the project was taken during a District Development Board meeting held on October 4, 2017, under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister of J&K (Chairman, District Development Board).
The project namely ‘Construction of Mini Secretariat at Batamaloo’, commenced in 2018 with a technically vetted cost of Rs. 48.23 crore. “An amount of Rs. 1 crore was released for the project, against which Rs. 82 lakh stands incurred,” the Minister stated.
She further informed that during the current financial year, additional Rs. 9 crore have been incurred, bringing the total expenditure on the project to Rs. 9.82 crore so far. “It is pertinent to mention that the pile foundation work of the project has been completed,” she added.
The Minister also stated that the executing agency has now submitted a revised Detailed Project Report (DPR) amounting Rs. 80.26 crore, which is currently under consideration of the department.
Drive against encroachments on irrigation canals a regular exercise: Javed Rana
Minister for Jal Shakti, Javed Ahmed Rana, today informed the House that the department undertakes coordinated action with the District Administration to remove encroachments from irrigation canals in Bijbehara.
The Minister was replying to a question raised by MLA, Basheer Ahmad Veeri.
The Minister stated that anti-encroachment drive is a continuous process and a total of 39 notices have been served to the general public during the year 2024-25. It further informed that 700 trees have been removed from the Nandi canal.
Regarding desilting and dredging, the Minister said that it is a routine process which is being conducted before onset of the irrigation season under the Convergence programme.
He further informed the House that the Irrigation network in the Srigufwara Bijbehara Constituency relies on the Nandi and Dubji Canals. These canals have leakages and embankment breaches, which are immediately acted upon and encroachments are removed as and when reported.