Education, health and potable water are prerequisites for any society. It is the duty of State Government to ensure that the basic rights of the civilians are protected. The Minister of Finance, Parliamentary Affairs, Protocol, Higher Education, and Planning Indira Hriyadesh made this observation while addressing a review meeting of developmental projects of Asian Development Bank (ADB), Jal Sansthan and Jal Nigam in Haldwani at Vidhan Sabha hall here on Saturday.
The Minister directed the officers of ADB to expedite the pending work of laying sewer lines in some areas of Haldwani city. She said that the population of the city is rapidly expanding due to which the existing infrastructural facilities are getting over loaded. Hriyadesh told the officials that the construction of the sewer lines should be done in such a way so that the local people face minimum of difficulties.
She said that construction of six new over-head water tanks is complete in the city but they are still unconnected with the network of pipe lines. The minister ordered the officials to ensure that these water tanks become functional before the summers. She also got information about the progress of drinking water schemes of Pithoragarh, Almora and Dharchula.
The deputy programe director of ADB informed the minister that an amount of Rs 50 Crore and Rs 90 Crore is needed for new sewer lines and sewer extension programes respectively in the Haldwani city. The Additional Chief Secretary Rakesh Sharma asked the ADB officials to get the aforesaid works completed by the amount saved after completion of trench I and trench II works of ADB.
Sharma asked the officials to ensure that apart from positive migration negative migration is also calculated while preparing the Detailed Project Reports (DPR) of developmental works. He said that a detailed survey of Haldwani city for sewerage works should be done soon and the work should be completed before March 2016. Sharma asked the Managing Director of Jal Nigam to prepare DPR of drinking water projects of Pithoragarh, Almora and Dharchula and handover them to Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC).
He setup a deadline of February 15, 2015 for EFC of Dharchula, February 20 for Almora and February 25 for Pithoragarh. Acting on the demand of Jal Sansthan for Rs 5 crore for stabilizers for tube wells, the Finance Minister cleared the budget for the scheme.
The meeting was attended by Additional Chief Secretary (ACF) industrial development, technical education and finance Rakesh Kumar, ACF Social welfare, school education S Raju, Secretary urban Development D S Garbyal, Deputy Project Director ADB Prabhat Raj, Senior Project Director Mukesh Mohan, MD Jal Nigam Bhajan lal and other officers.