Bihar’s Water Resources Minister Reviews Progress of Flood Protection and Irrigation Projects

Water Resources Minister Vijay Kumar Chaudhary, in a meeting held at Irrigation Bhawan on 20th June, reviewed in detail the physical progress of all the schemes costing more than Rs 05 crore implemented by the Water Resources Department for flood protection and expansion of irrigation facilities in Bihar, as well as the allocation and expenditure status for them, and gave many necessary instructions to complete them on time. Many senior officers including Principal Secretary Santosh Kumar Mall, Additional Secretary Naveen, Chief Engineer of Flood Control Manoj Raman, Chief Engineer of Irrigation Creation Nand Kumar Jha, Chief Engineer of Planning and Monitoring Sanjay Kumar Ojha were present in the review meeting and Chief Engineers of all the areas were connected through video conferencing.

The Water Resources Minister said that the officers of the department should work promptly for flood protection, expansion of irrigation facilities and to deliver irrigation water to the last end of the canals. Any kind of delay in departmental schemes will not be tolerated. Before issuing work order to the contractor of any scheme, finalize all the drawings and designs related to the scheme, so that there is no delay in starting the work after the work order is issued.

Hon'ble Minister Shri Vijay Kumar Chaudhary directed that the concerned officers of the department should send the quarterly action plan of all the schemes to the headquarters and ensure the physical progress of the work accordingly. Also, regularly review the proportional expenditure of the budget allocation for the schemes. If there is any kind of obstacle in the timely implementation of the schemes, then identify it and get it removed on priority basis. If the progress of the schemes is not satisfactory as per the action plan, issue a So Cause as per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) against the contractor as well as the officer responsible for monitoring.

Shri Vijay Kumar Chaudhary said that ensure departmental action against the contractors of those schemes who are not able to use adequate number of workforce, machines and material to complete the works on time as per the prescribed action plan. If in any scheme, the contractor does not expedite the work even after the instructions of the department officer, then ensure timely action as per the department's standard operating procedure (SOP) to debar such contractor.

The Water Resources Minister also reviewed the status of compliance of the instructions given in the last review meeting. He also said that the senior officer should ensure close monitoring of whether the instructions given in the review meeting are being complied with at the regional level or not.