The Cabinet decided to form a river basin authority for smooth implementation of the Pampa Action Plan.It recommended issue of an Ordinance to the Governor for constituting the authority on an urgent basis.The Pampa River Basin Authority, as per the proposed Ordinance, will have powers to take executive decisions on implementation of various projects under the Action Plan. The Plan aims at controlling the pollution of the river.
The Authority will coordinate, manage and monitor works to be implemented by various departments and agencies in the Pampa basin as part of the Plan. It will also have powers to control exploitation of natural resources and encroachments on the Pampa river basin and their efficient administration.The Ordinance provides for co-opting of non-governmental organisations by the Authority for implementation of the Action Plan. The whole of the river basin will be taken as an integral unit for efficient management.
The Chief Minister will be the chairman of the Authority. Minister for Water Resources will be the vice-chairman and the Secretary (Water Resources) the member-secretary of the Authority. It will have the secretaries for Revenue, Forests, Health, Science and Technology, Power, Finance, Devaswoms and chairman of the State Pollution Control Board as members besides two experts in water resources. The Authority will be an autonomous institution. The implementation of the Pampa Action Plan, which May finally have an outlay of about Rs.200 crore, had got intertwined with the Sabarimala Master Plan, delaying the project. The Centre has sanctioned Rs.18 crore for the project, which remains unspent. Minister for Water Resources N. K. Premachandran took the initiative to form the Authority to speed up implementation.
May 15, 2008, The Hindu
No comments:
Post a Comment