CHANDIGARH, Jan 6: In its bid to improve arrangments for flood control, the Haryana Flood Control Board has approved 163 schemes to be executed at an estimated expenditure of about Rs 45 crore in all the districts of the state.In a meeting here today, the board directed the Irrigation Department to immediately take in hand the project to construct Hisar-Ghaggar and Rangoi-Ghaggar drains and get these completed within two years so as to protect the districts of Kaithal, Jind, Fatehabad, Hisar and Sirsa from the onslaught of floods.Chief Minister Bansi Lal, who was presiding over the meeting of the board, constituted a committee comprising Irrigation Minister, Commissioner and Secretary, Irrigation and Engineer-in-Chief, Irrigation to work out the modalities for speedy construction of Hisar-Ghaggar drain. He expressed concern over the havoc being caused by Yamuna river in Haryana and directed the Irrigation Department to take necessary steps, on priority basis to minimise the loss being suffered by the people due to floods in this river.The board sanctioned approved the proposal for repair of mobile pumps and procurement of more pumps at a cost of Rs 2.30 crore. It decided that the workshop of the Haryana State Minor Irrigation and Tubewells Corporation will also be updated at a cost of Rs one crore so as to speed up the repair of damaged pumps and approved Rs 2.07 crore for 22 ongoing schemes. The meeting also sanctioned Rs 16.05 crore for 56 other flood protection schemes, which have already been approved by the Haryana State Technical Advisory Committee.Bansi Lal, who also reviewed the ongoing flood protection works, especially the speedy dewatering operation conducted recently, expressed satisfaction that the area under rai cultivation had increased considerably in most of the districts. He agreed to the proposal of the Minister of State for Irrigation, Harsh Kumar that small drains should be constructed through departmental equipment as far as possible.The Irrigation Minister assured the Chief Minster that all flood protection schemes would be implemented on priority basis and within a time-bound manner. Those who attended the meeting included Finance Minister, Charan Dass Shorewala, Revenue Minister, Suraj Pal, Development and Panchayats Minister, Kanwal Singh and Minister of State for Horticulture, Jagbir Singh Malik.
