NEW DELHI, MARCH 4(KMW): Union Cabinet Secretary, Mr. Ajit Seth Wednesday chaired the high level meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) at New Delhi to review the situation arisen due to the blockage of river Phuktal in Zanskar sub division and the operationalization of the Action Plan to dismantle the blockage.
Chief Secretary, Iqbal Khandey, Principal Secretary Planning and Development, B. R. Sharma, Commissioner Secretary PHE, I&FC, Dr. Pawan Kotwal, Commissioner Secretary Revenue, Vinod Koul, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Rohit Kansal and Deputy Commissioner Kargil participated in the meeting via video conferencing.
Presenting the details regarding the operationalization of the Action Plan, the meeting was informed that subject to fair weather conditions, the advance party called the layout group will setup camp fully equipped with ration, fuel, oxygen cylinders, medical equipment and communication gear at the site within the next few days, following which the main body of the expert personnel will arrive at the site to start the main operation of drilling and excavating to channelize controlled flow of water downstream. This part of the operation is expected to be completed within a week.
Meanwhile, Chief Secretary confirmed the State Government’s readiness in every aspect with Deputy Commissioner Kargil informing that the evacuation of locals likely to be affected in case of a breach has begun.
The whole operation is constantly being monitored through ground, aerial and satellite means and data is collected and relayed on hourly basis.
The latest imagery shows that the width of the river as 125 meters with surface area of 220 HA and water accumulation (backward from the site) upto 15 Km.
