'Work underway to strengthen river banks'
Source: Chronicle News Service
Imphal, November 12 2022:
Flood has been a major problem the state has been facing almost every year and in order to prevent flooding in the future, the water resources department has started work to strengthen river banks under Flood Management arid Border Area Programme of the Central government, said water resources minister Awangbow Newmai.
Addressing a press meet at his official residence, Lamphelpat, here, on Saturday, the minister said that the project was sanctioned by the ministry after submitting a DPR by identifying weak areas of the major rivers of the state and geo-tagging the locations.
Stating that the department is taking up the initiative to address the issue of flood through timely preventive measures before the arrival of monsoon, he assured of transparency and efficacy in the functioning of his department.
Awangbow also confided that a monitoring team from the ministry is regu larly assessing progress of the project and running bills are released after physical verification and approval from the ministry only.
The minister also informed that concrete measures are taken up from the time of preparing the DPR in order to make the project effective in addressing the issue of flood.
He appreciated the cooperation from the public and assured of addressing their problem once the project is completed and also informed that funding for the projects are released in instalment and as such, the department is prioritising project locations based on ground assessment of the flood prone areas.
Awangbow, however, deplored attempts being made by some individuals or groups to mislead the public, and appealed to all concerned to refrain from such acts.
While seeking suggestions and support in bringing out the best from the project, he, however, warned of taking up legal actions against any individual if they continue to make baseless allegations.