IEP Chandigarh, July 25
Water Supply and Sanitation Minister Bram Shanker Jimpa today held an important meeting with Forest Minister Lal Chand Kataruchak to resolve the common issues of both the departments. Senior officials of water supply & sanitation and forest department were also present. Jimpa said that the government led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann is making significant efforts to provide clean potable water to all the villages in the state. For this purpose many water supply schemes are operational and many schemes are new/under construction. He said that the approval of the Forest Department is required at many places for laying pipelines of water supply schemes, which needs to be approved in a timely manner so that there is no delay in the implementation of the projects. During meeting, Jimpa mentioned about 17 surface water supply schemes including Patrewala (Muktsar), Katteawali (Fazilka), Sohangarh (Firozepur), Chawinda Kalan and Kandowali (Amritsar), Talwara (Hoshiarpur), Bhuchar Kalan (Taran Taran) and Manakpur (Rupnagar) for which the clearance of the Forest Department is mandatory. The Forest Minister asked the senior officials of the department to issue clearances for all such schemes in a timely manner so that these schemes can be completed/implemented on time. He said that common issues will be resolved with mutual cooperation of both the departments. On this occasion, Principal Secretary of Water Supply and Sanitation Department D.K Tiwari and Department Head Mohammad Ishfaq, Financial Commissioner (Forests) Vikas Garg, PCCF R.K Mishra and Chief Conservator of Forests Basanta Raj Kumar were present.
