CS chairs State Executive Committee’s meeting; Approves purchase of advanced snow clearance machinery

JAMMU: The Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta today chaired a meeting of the State Executive Committee (SEC) for Disaster Management and reviewed various disaster related activities being undertaken in Jammu and Kashmir.

Atal Dulloo, ACS, Finance Department, Shailendra Kumar, Principal Secretary, Public Works (R&B), and Nazim Zai Khan, Secretary to Government, Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation & Reconstruction (DMRRR) participated in the meeting.

The State Executive Committee approved the purchase of Rs. 78.50 crore worth advanced snow clearance machinery including snow vehicles, ploughs, cutters, and front end loaders for clearance of snow without damaging the road surfaces.

Hitherto, the traditional snow clearance machinery has been eroding the metalled road surface necessitating repairs of damaged roads each year.

Earlier, to address this concern, Chief Secretary had ordered constitution of a high level committee for formulation of a standard operating procedure for snow clearance with the focus of reducing damage to the roads during winters. The committee considered various options and suggested purchase of modern machinery to ensure scientific snow clearance and checking recurrent repairs towards long term maintenance of quality roads in snow-bound areas of the Union territory. The committee had pointed out that introduction of high-end machinery would lead to savings on long terms basis besides reducing the need of frequent major repairs.

Further, the Committee approved Rs. 3.82 lakhs for conducting four non-residential training courses on different themes of disaster management to promote general education, awareness and community training on vulnerability and mitigation of disasters.

It also approved release of funds to district administrations for meeting emergency expenditures on account of disaster management, relief, rehabilitation, and reconstruction.