The Chief Secretary, Dr. Arun Kumar Mehta today chaired a meeting to review maintenance of river regulation zones and adjoining khad areas in Jammu and Kashmir.Administrative Secretaries of departments of Home, Revenue, Jal Shakti, Information Technology, and Law, Justice & Parliamentary Affairs besides Divisional Commissioner Jammu, and Deputy Commissioner Jammu participated in the meeting.Underscoring the necessity of having reliable data on areas surrounding various rivers and associated khad, the Chief Secretary directed constitution of 3-tier inter-disciplinary committees to undertake respective surveys and compile requisite data at the district, division, and UT levels. The committees will have domain experts from Revenue, Housing & Urban Development, Forest, Jal Shakti, and Law departments.These committees will study the delineation of specified areas in a prioritized manner beginning with municipal areas in the first phase spanning over 3 months, flood-prone areas in the next 3 months under phase II, and the remaining parcels of land in the subsequent 6 months under phase III.The committees are mandated with the formulation of jurisdiction-specific guidelines for demarcation and proper maintenance of flood plains and river regulations zones, besides devising a mechanism for identification and removal of illegal encroachments in the public interest.Further, reviewing the ‘Apni Zameen, Apni Nigrani’ initiative of the Revenue Department, Dr. Mehta directed initiation of exemplary disciplinary action against the delinquent employees in case the land record is found to be wrong or missing if reported so after public scrutiny.
