A workshop on “River Morphology Study, Flood Mitigation and Comprehensive River Management measures for Jhelum basin” was organized by the Project Management unit of JTFRP (Jhelum & Tawi Flood Recovery Project ) funded by World Bank at SKICC ,Srinagar here today.
Dr.Raghav Langer (IAS) Chief Executive Officer, JKERA/JTFRP in his inaugural address said that the workshop will provide the platform for sharing our experiences and incorporating them into the study that is being conducted under the Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project .He said that better information sharing would lead to better results.

Pandurang Kondbarao Pole (IAS) Secretary, Department of Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, who was Guest of Honour said that the better information sharing and coordination between various line depts is crucial to formulating long lasting solutions for strengthening the resilience to floods.
Ajeet Kumar Sahu (IAS), Commissioner Secretary, PHE and I&FC who was also Guest of Honour stressed on the need for creating the scientific database available within the various departments at a single platform.

Rohit Kansal (IAS), Principal Secretary, Department of Planning, Development and Monitoring Chief Guest on the occasion in his key note address said that the main aim of the ongoing World Bank funded JTFRP is to ensure that we don't have to go through the traumatic experience of 2014 floods again in our lives. He added that prevention of encroachment of urban flood plain is vital to prevention of such floods in future. He further said that the key to prevention of natural calamities is to undertake developmental activities without disturbing the delicate balance of nature.

David Sargent , Team Leader Eptisa private limited a consultancy that has been engaged by JTFRP for the preparation of River Morphology Study of Jhelum River Basin gave a comprehensive presentation on history of floods in Kashmir, Impact of 2014 floods, present status of the study being undertaken under JTFRP ,various possible solutions to prevent recurrence of such floods in future. Later presentations were also given by the experts on the the field of Flood Forecasting, Early Warning, Fluvial Geomorphology, Inundation map modeling, environmental assessment study of Jhelum basin. The technical session was followed by interactive session during which participants discussed on various aspects that would further enrich the study being undertaken under JTFRP.

Iftikhar Kakroo, Director, Technical, JTFRP presented vote of thanks.
Workshop was attended by Chief Engineers of PHED, Kashmir,R&B Kashmir, UEED J&K, Director Planning and Coordination , JTFRP, Director Regional MET office, M.D JK industries, officers of Chief Town Plannner, Kashmir, Dept of Ecology and Remote Sensing, SMC , JKERA and academicians Dr Shakeel Romsho HOD,Earth Sciences Dept , Professor M.Sultan HOD, Department of Geography and Regional Development from University of Kashmir and also faculty from NIT and IMPA Srinagar.

The 3-day workshop was attended by the elected representatives from more than 30 panchayat/ urban local bodies across the Kashmir Division and during the course of three days experts in the field of disaster management Dr. G.M Dar, Dr Khurshid ul-islam , Dr. Mohammad Asharf Dar and Mr . Ashfaq Matoo, Executive Director, JKASW a practitioner in the area of disaster management briefed participants about the various aspects of disaster management like role of communities in disaster management, community based disaster vulnerability mapping, availability of disaster kits , dry rations, emergency response, importance of local volunteers in relief and rescue work , preparation of community based disaster management plans and role of councilors in disaster management mitigation etc. Audio- visual documentaries related to topic were also screened during the workshop

The objective of the 3-day workshop was to sensitize and build capacities of the elected representatives of PRIs and ULBs in the area of disaster management in order to enable them to perform better in case of natural disasters at community level.

The workshop is being conducted as part of a series of capacity building workshops which is being conducted by J&KERA under its World Bank funded JTFRP and two capacity building workshops for the” Role of NSS scheme in disaster management and “Preparation of school safety plans” have already been conducted which were attended by the NSS coordinators, NSS volunteers and principals and various functionaries of different schools across the valley.

Dr. Raghav Langer , Chief Executive Officer J&KERA briefed the Hon’ble Governor about the salient features of the project. He said the project has been completed with the cost of Rs 41 crores and consists of two limbs of one taking off from Sonawar side and landing near – Linz and other limb landing near the main gate of JKBank corporate office. The two lane Grade Separator has a carriage way width of 7.5 meters and has total length of 630 metres including that of three ramps. The construction of grade separator would pave way for smooth movement of traffic near the TRC- Sonawar- Radio Kashmir crossing were traffic jamming is quite frequent during the peak hours .

Shri Baseer Ahmad Khan, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, Shri Dilbag Singh, Director General of Police, Shri Khursheed Ahmad , Commissioner Secretary , R&B , Shahid Iqbal Chowdhary, Deputy Commissioner Srinagar , Chief Engineers of R&B, UEED, PHED ,S.P traffic , Srinagar and several other senior officers also attended the function.

Shri E.Sreedharan , Principal Advisor , J&K Govt for MRTS (Mass Rapid Transit System) project in J&K today visited the proposed corridors for Srinagar city along with Shri Dheeraj Gupta (IAS) , Principal Secretary , Housing and Urban Development Department and Dr. Raghav Langer(IAS) , Chief Executive Officer, J&K ERA, J&K.

During site visit Shri Dheeraj Gupta , Principal Secretary, H&UDD informed Shri E.Sreedharan about the North –South and East- West corridors which have been proposed by RITES limited a Govt. of India Enterprise in its draft DPR for the project. The team had an on spot inspection of various locations in Srinagar city which included Shalteng Batmaloo, Jehangir Chowk,Amirakadal, Sonwar, Nowhatta, SKIMS and Ellahi Bagh (near Hazratbal crossing) etc

Principal Secretary, H&UDD informed that the halting points shall be decided keeping in view the high density traffic areas, key business and administrative areas where daily influx of the commuters is huge. Representatives of RITES India Limited gave on spot presentation of the draft DPR prepared by it for the Srinagar, MRTS.

E Sreedharan, Principal Advisor, MRTS Projects, J&K Govt suggested some modifications during the site visit as per the ground conditions.

Javed Iqbal Tara, Director , Kashmir, JKERA, Fayaz Ahmad , Chief Town Planner, Kashmir, Sheikh Javed, Project Manager, Transport, J&KERA and Nimit Kumar, Manager, RITES accompanied the high level team during the site visit.

Dr. Raghav Langer, Chief Executive Officer, J&KERA while giving PowerPoint presentation of the ongoing JKUSDIP (Jammu and Kashmir Urban Sector Development Investment Programme ) informed that out of the total of 53 sub-projects works on 43 sub-projects which include construction of mechanized car parking facility at KMDA, Srinagar and at city chowk super bazaar, Jammu, Vikram Chowk flyover at Jammu, 1st phase of Jehangir chowk-Rambagh Flyover, New Mehjoor Bridge at Jawahar Nagar, Srinagar, 3 landfill cells at municipal Landfill site , Achan, Srinagar besides providing of equipments to PHED and SMC while as work on remaining 10 sub- projects is under execution at present.

He said that 99% physical progress has been achieved on the construction of Rawalpora-Chanapora storm water drainage sub-project with work on laying of drainage network and construction of two main pumping stations already complete. He added that 76% physical progress has been achieved on the construction of Storm Water drainage sub-project along the national highway byepass at Athwajan and 87% progress has been achieved on the laying of 18Kms raw water pipeline from upper reaches of Doodhganga at Nauhara to Kralpora and balance portion of these works had to be re-tendered due to the non-performance of the contractors and these works will be completed by May, 2019.

Giving details about the progress of work on the construction of Jehangir-Chowk -Rambagh flyover CEO, ERA informed that 84% physical progress has been achieved on the project as a whole and said that as per the revised pert chart submitted for the pending works of the flyover contractor has committed to complete the balance work on the sub-project by May, 2019. Hon’ble Advisor appreciated the support being provided by the District Administration, Srinagar to JKERA for smooth execution of work on the flyover. He also directed JKERA to ensure that the non-performing contractors be got blacklisted and appreciated the fact that JKERA under loan I and Loan 2 has been been able to create state of art key public assets with the financial assistance of Asian Development Bank.

Later Advisor K.K Sharma visited the constructions sites of Jehangir Chowk Rambagh Flyover and Grade Separator at TRC,Srinagar during which he directed the engineers and contractor to further speed up the pace of work to ensure that timelines are strictly complied with .

Meeting was also attended by Dr, Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, Tahir Geelani, S.S.P Traffic, Srinagar, Ashok Kumar, Chief Engineer, I&FC, , Adbul Wahid Chief Engineer, PHE,Kashmir, Sami Arif , Chief Engineer, R&B, Kashmir, Hashmat Qazi, Chief Engineer, EM&RE, Kashmir, Showkat Wani, Director, Kashmir, J&KERA, Nazir Ahmad Baba, Additional Commissioner, Srinagar Municipal Corporation and other senior officers of line departments and J&KERA,

Dr. Raghav Langer (IAS) Chief Executive Officer, J&K ERA today inspected the construction site of additional block of Lal Ded Maternity Hospital in Srinagar. The project has been taken up at an approximate cost of Rs 75 crore under the World Bank funded JTFRP (Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project) for strengthening of critical infrastructure in the state .

The Officers of JKPCC which is designated implementing agency for the project informed CEO, ERA that the proposed additional hospital block will be constructed adjacent to the existing hospital complex and the new building will be integrated with it. The Building will have ground plus 5-floors with parking space, patients waiting lounge, canteen in ground floor, new –born section in 1st floor, operation theatres and labour rooms in 2nd floor, 3rd floor as patients waiting lounge and hospital equipments while as 4th and 5th floors will have space for wards It was said that the building will be constructed using the Base Isolation Technique which is earth quake proof and has been recommended by the World Bank as the region falls under the Seismic Zone –V . The technique will be used for the first time in any of the public constructions in the state. The building block has also been categorized as GREEN BUILDING and is being designed to achieve the Performance based on International design standards

CEO, ERA also had an interaction with the hospital authorities who expressed satisfaction with the proposed design of the building and also made a request for providing of logistic requirements like complete medical equipments and furniture that will be required for making the additional hospital block functional. CEO, ERA directed the officers of JKPCC and JTFRP to hold the meeting with the J&K Medical Supplies Corporation so that the component is taken care off under the project. He also directed the JKPCC and design consultancy to complete the preparation of drawings and other technical details by first week of March, 2019 and ensure that the work on the project is started at the earliest

Several Officers of Lad Ded Hospital, JKPCC, and JTFRP also accompanied the CEO, ERA during his visit.

ERA today organized a day long workshop on Upgrading Design Guidelines and Building Codes for Multiple Disasters in J&K at Jammu Municipal Corporation Conference hall under the Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project. The workshop was attended by participants from Town Planning Organisation, Jammu Municipal Corporation, Jammu Development Authority, Urban Local Bodies, Fire and Emergency Services, PHE Department and Tourism Department.

CEO ERA, Dr. Raghav Langer while welcoming the participants briefed about the objectives of the workshop. Dr. Langer informed that the aim of the workshop is that there is need to have uniform building codes for all Municipal Corporations, Municipal Committees, Municipal Councils, Development Authorities and Tourism Development Authorities in the state of J&K. It is required from the point of view of effective Disaster resilience of the structures as the state is prone to various kinds of natural disasters. While inaugurating the workshop the Secretary (HuDD) Anil Gupta who was the Chief Guest on the occasion congratulated ERA/JTFRP for organizing the workshop on the topic and emphasized the need for organizing more such workshops for engineers of different line departments so that they are able to keep themselves aware about latest structural designs and procedures from disaster management point of view. Director Planning and Coordination, JTFRP, Iftikhar Ahmad Hakeem emphasized that there is a need to look into the building permissions/permit process of various ULB’s, Authorities and to customize it as per the state’s requirement and to simplify the same for the benefit of citizens. Some kind of building bye-laws also need to be notified to regulate the constructions in rural areas. It was also agreed to explore the possibility of empaneling and registering private Architects, Structural Engineers, Draftsmen, etc to augment the capacities of ULB’s and Development Authorities.

Workshop included the PowerPoint Presentation and interactive session conducted by Dr. Alpa Sheth and experts from TARU and VMS consultants. Workshop was also attended by Iftikhar Ahmad Kakroo, Director Technical JTFRP, Director ERA Kashmir and other stakeholders departments.

Chief Executive Officer , J&K ERA Dr. Raghav Langer, IAS said that as per the revised time schedule submitted by M/S SIL (Simplex Infrastructure Limited) had to complete the structural portion of 2nd phase of the flyover project by 31st December 2018. However the same has now got delayed till end of February – 2019 due to sub-optimal manpower, material and machinery deployed by the contractor. The Chief Executive Officer said that the strict monitoring of milestones for the mega project is being done on a continuous basis and the contractor shall be penalized under relevant sections of contract agreement for delaying the work. It may be recalled that in the month of October 2018 the contractor has already been penalized with an initial penalty of Rs. 1.25 crore by J&K ERA.

The CEO J&K ERA has also directed the project staff to impose employer’s claims under relevant clauses on the contractor for delays in the project and additional burden being put on the state exchequer on account of salaries of employees and extension of tenure of the Design & Supervision Consultants deployed on the project by Government.

Meanwhile, J&K ERA is constantly engaged with the contractor to ensure that the remaining structural works that include erection of girders, laying of deck slabs, retaining walls, etc. on 3rd phase of the flyover from Alochibagh to Jehangir chowk gets completed as per agreed timelines. It has been reiterated to the contractor to professionally execute the contract agreement or face the brunt of action in future as well.

The contractor is supposed to make the complete stretch of flyover motorable by June 2019 as per his submitted work plan.

This was stated during the site visit of Dr, Raghav Langer, Chief Executive Officer, ERA/ JTFRP to existing common facility centre at Sethar, Anantnag for seasoning of cricket bats. The facility has been badly impacted due the floods of 2014 and is presently not operational. Officers of the Industries and Commerce Dept present on the occasion informed CEO that more than 400 bat manufacturing units are presently operating in Sethar and adjoining areas of District Anantnag which employee more than 5000 people and the facility was established in 2006 for the seasoning of wood used by these units for the manufacturing of cricket bats.

CEO also visited a local bat manufacturing unit were he was shown the various stages involved in the manufacturing of the cricket bats. He also interacted with the representatives of the local bat manufacturing units who demanded that the area be designated as an industrial cluster and be provided with all the facilities to enable the cricket bat manufacturing units to flourish.CEO directed the nodal officer of JTFRP to prepare a report regarding the key actions plan agreed to between the representatives of bat manufacturing units and World Bank representatives during their meeting at New Delhi so that a comprehensive project for the establishment of Common facility centre for the cricket bat units at Sethar is taken up. Representatives of bat industry also demanded that the SRO of Govt. regulating their activity needs to be revisited and amended as per the latest requirements

CEO JTFRP also inspected the progress of work on 3.34 km Halmulla- Punchpora to Kralkut which is estimated to cost Rs 4.98 crores and also visited Girls Degree College, Anantnag and Boys Degree College Bijbehara were additional blocks are being constructed under the critical infrastructure component of JTFRP