The chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today reviewed the functioning of the Water Resources Department in a meeting held at his office conference room at Janata Bhawan and directed the officials to take urgent steps to complete maximum ongoing schemes within this month to minimize the damage caused by flood to people and property.
Chief minister Sarma also asked the department to identify the vulnerable points in the embankments across Assam and carry out strengthening on a war footing while completing the breach closing works at the earliest. He stressed on quality and timely completion of projects and suggested the department to prioritize works to ensure best use of financial and human resources.
Stating that dredging could bring satisfactory results in reducing the impact of flood, the Chief Minister directed the department to identify rivers that cause maximum havoc during flood and examine the feasibility of dredging on those rivers.
Further suggesting a fundamental shift in the functioning of water resources department, Chief Minister Sarma asked the senior officials to take up time bound and technology oriented approach while implementing flood protection and repairing schemes.
The Chief Minister instructed the department to submit a draft proposal outlining the areas for improvement apart from innovative and technologically sound systems to make the department more efficient. He also directed the department to develop an accountability mechanism to ensure judicious utilization of public money.
Water Resources Minister Pijush Hazarika, Additional Chief Secretary of WR Department S Abbasi, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Samir Sinha, CEO FREMAA Siddharth Singh, Commissioner & Secretary of Revenue & Disaster Management Department MS Manivannan, Additional Secretary to Chief Minister Dr. Jeevan B, Chief Engineer of WR Department Borsing Rongpi and other senior officers were present in the meeting.