Tawi lake project to miss the 2012 deadline, work remained suspended for 20 days during monsoon
Yash Khajuria	10/19/2011 10:06:52 PM
JAMMU, Oct 19: The much hyped Tawi lake project is likely to miss the deadline of 2012 as work remained stopped for more than a month following damages to the already constructed portion due to flash floods. Sources said that due to the floods during the monsoon, executing agencies had stopped the work as rushing water had damaged machinery and carried away other material from the spot. They said that there was every possibility that the project would miss the 2012 deadline to give city its first artificial lake. It is pertinent to mention here that the design of the artificial lake’s project over Tawi River was approved by the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. A team of experts from Pakistan inspected the project of artificial lake. Prestigious Rs 140 crore Tawi lake project is one of the important initiatives of the state government to make the Jammu city attractive for the visitors, while using the barrage water to augment the irrigation facilities in the paddy grown areas of the district. The reservoir would enable to lift 700 cusecs of water from Tawi to recharge the Ranbir Canal to irrigate 8000 kanals of agriculture land at the tail end villages, still dependent on the rainfalls. Officials said that Irrigation and Flood Control department was digging a new channel to divert the water of the river to avoid further damage in the eventuality of heavy rainfall during the upcoming winter season. When contacted Irrigation Department, AEE, Attaluhah Naaz, who is associated with the project said that heavy rainfall and flash floods created problems during the monsoon, disrupting the work. However sources said that executing agencies are facing certain problems due to the unpredictable nature of the river Tawi. “It is different river; its flow depends upon the volume of rainfall at higher reaches. At times, it is totally dry and within minutes it gets filled up”, said an official. The lake project which was approved by the then Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Jagmohan in 1986, witnessed much delay and it was about three years back that the government initiated the process for its construction. The design approval also took months before it was approved by the Central Water Commission.