PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control dept renamed as Jal Shakti dept in J&K

The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Saturday renamed the Public Health Engineering, Irrigation and Flood Control department as Jal Shakti department.

The administration also gave approval for the constitution of Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) with an apex committee, executive committee and a mission directorate for its smooth functioning and to ensure it achieves targets of providing safe drinking water to the consumers in the Union territory.

In February, the administrative council headed by Lieutenant Governor G C Murmu had accorded sanction to the renaming of PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Department as 'Jal Shakti Department' and implementation of Jal Jeevan Mission and a road map to achieve 100 per cent coverage of piped water supply by December 2021 across the UT aligning it to the national Jal Jeevan Mission.

In a series of orders issued by the General Administration Department (GAD) here, Additional Secretary Rohit Sharma said, Sanction is hereby accorded to the renaming of Public Health Engineering/Irrigation and flood control department as 'Jal Shakti Department'.

In another order, Sharma said sanction is accorded to abolish the erstwhile state water and sanitation mission, Jammu and Kashmir under the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) and constitution of JJM, J&K with an apex committee, executive committee and mission directorate.

The administrative secretary of the Jal Shakti department was nominated as ex-officio, mission director of JJM while special secretary/additional secretary, Jal Shakti department will be ex-officio, additional mission director, the order read.

The GAD also set up a 12-member apex level committee under JJM with the chief secretary as its chairman.

The terms of reference of the committee include providing policy guidance for the overall planning, strategising and implementation of JJM in the Union territory, to give in-principle approval of action plan or road map for providing functional household tap connection (FHTC) to every rural household and to lay down water quality and serve standards in consonance with the Government of India guidelines, the order said.

It will also among other things monitor financial discipline including timely utilisation of funds, coordinate among departments and other agencies/partners for convergence of funds, bring about effective policies and regulations for efficient water use by other sectors like industries, agriculture and institution in tune with J&K State Water Resources (Regulation and Management) Act and as per guidelines fixed by the state water resources regulatory authority from time to time, finalise policy intervention on engaging dedicated human resource for ensuring water quality testing as well as surveillance by using field test kits.

The committee would meet at least once in a quarter and shall be serviced by the Jal Shakti department, the order said.

In another order, the GAD accorded sanction to the 11-member executive committee headed by Mission Director, JJM and said its terms of reference include to function under overall control and supervision of apex committee and provide required assistance to the apex committee for implementation of JJM objectives and its operational guidelines.

The committee would meet at least once in a month and would be serviced by the mission directorate of JJM, it said.

The government also accorded sanction to the constitution of a 13-member district JJM which would be headed by respective district development commissioners and would meet at least once every month.

The terms of reference of the district JJM include constitution of village water and sanitation committee as per the guidelines issued by government/apex committee and provide required hand-holding support to panchayats and the village water and sanitation committees for implementation of JJM schemes in accordance with the JJM operational guidelines, the order said.