Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, while reviewing the irrigation department in the secretariat on Wednesday, directed the officials to expedite the work of master drainage plan and flood plan zoning of cities. Along with preparing and submitting a concrete plan within 02 months for removing silt from the dams and dredging system to increase the water level, he also directed to expedite all the action to be taken at the state level to connect Pindar and Kosi rivers. He said that to ensure that pure water goes to the Ganga and its tributaries, such drains should also be identified where STPs are not installed. Special attention should be paid to the construction of ghats. The Chief Minister said that flood protection works should be expedited. Special attention should be paid to increasing irrigation facilities in the hilly areas and maintenance of canals.
In the meeting, the Chief Minister directed that work on the Jamrani Dam multipurpose project and the Song Dam drinking water project should start soon, for which all proceedings should be completed by September. A budget of Rs 710 crore has been provisioned for the Jamrani Dam project in the financial year 2024-25. This project will create availability of 117 MLD drinking water in Haldwani city and its adjoining areas, about 57 thousand hectares of additional irrigation capacity, while the Song Dam project will ensure 150 MLD gravity drinking water supply for the estimated population of Dehradun city and suburban areas till 2053.
A budget of Rs 300 crore has been provisioned for the Song Dam in the financial year 2024-25. The Chief Minister directed that the treatment work of Baliyanala landslide area of Nainital district, protective work for prevention of landslide and landslide near Haldapani Law College of Chamoli district and Gwalgaon landslide treatment work in Dharchula development block of Pithoragarh should be completed soon.
It was informed in the meeting that for providing clean drinking water, tourism development, fisheries and ground water enrichment, Tharkot lake in Pithoragarh, Kolidhek Jhal in Champawat and reservoir on Gagas river in Almora have been constructed. Embankment strengthening work has been done from Ghatgarh drain situated on Kali river in Dharchula to India-Nepal bridge. Work is being done on dredge plan in 14 important cities of the state, survey of Dehradun has been completed. Vice Chairman Infrastructure Monitoring Council Vishwas Dabur, Chief Secretary Radha Raturi, Additional Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan, Principal Secretary R.K. Sudhanshu, Secretary R. Meenakshi Sundaram, Dr. R. Rajesh Kumar, Special Secretary Dr. Parag Madhukar Dhakate and concerned officials were present.
