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| Show record of 5-yr water discharge: HC to I&FC deptt | | Damage caused by flash floods in Niki Tawi area | | Early Times Report
Jammu, May 18: The J&K High Court has directed the Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) department, Jammu, to place before the court record of last five year discharge in both Niki as well as Badi Tawi.
A Division Bench of the High Court comprising First Puisne Judge Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Sindhu Sharma also directed Deputy Advocate General K.D.S. Kotwal appearing for PHE, Irrigation and I&FC department to produce the map showing the topography of the area.
These directions were passed by the court in a PIL filed by inhabitants of villages Barjala and Khandwal (Niki Tawi area) through S. Gurdev Singh and Ghulam Nabi Sheikh, seeking directions to the Commissioner/Secretary to PHE, I&FC department to release funds amounting to Rs 793 lakhs so that the restoration works/infrastructure damaged during flash floods of 2014-15 and 2015-16 be executed.
When the PIL came up for hearing, Advocate Sheikh Shakeel Ahmed with Advocates Rahul Raina, Supriya Chouhan and M. Zulkarnain Chowdhary appearing for the petitioners drew the attention of the court towards the last order dated November 20, 2018 whereby the Division Bench had directed that the state authorities shall explain circumstances, differential volumes of water being discharged in the Niki Tawi and Badi Tawi. Besides, the Division Bench had also directed that I&FC department to file a status report about the steps taken for managing the waters in the Niki Tawi and Badi Tawi.
Advocate Shakeel submitted that in the latest status report filed by the Chief Engineer I&FC department Jammu "it is crystal clear that there is discharge of 90% of the water in Niki Tawi whereas less than 10% water is discharged in Badi Tawi." He further submitted that few years back Niki Tawi was just a small canal provided for irrigation purposes and later major flow of the Badi Tawi was diverted towards the canal and named as Niki Tawi and most of the water was diverted in it. He also submitted that every year the flash floods create devastation in the area with the result more than 45 villages get affected/disconnected during rainy season.
On the other hand, Deputy Advocate General K.D.S. Kotwal appearing for PHE, I&FC department submitted that regarding differential volumes of water the difference in bed level exist along the cross section of the river upstream of existing barrage under construction, where Tawi bifurcates into two streams called Niki Tawi and Badi Tawi. As a result of difference in bed level, more discharge towards the Niki Tawi is there in comparison to the discharge of Badi Tawi.
After considering the submissions of both the sides, the Division Bench directed the I&FC department to produce before the court the record of discharge of water both in Niki Tawi as well as Badi Tawi during the last five years particularly recorded during monsoon period. |
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