SrinagarThe Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Wednesday directed deputy commissioner Srinagar to submit inquiry report into the incident involving caving in of embankment near Lasjan in outskirts of Srinagar earlier this month.
A division bench of Chief Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed and Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey had preponed the hearing of a related Public Interest Litigation last week and restricted it to the matter pertaining to the crumbling of the embankment near Lasjan on January 24.
According to senior additional advocate general, appearing for I&FC, the embankment crumbled due to seepage and not because of water coming into the river.
On the other hand, the Amicus curie submitted that this has happened by the extraction of sand by using by heavy machinery.
First of all whatever be the reason for collapse of the embankment the I&FC immediately repair the same. The report be produced to the court with photographic evidence on next date, the court said.
Apart from this, the court said, the Deputy Commissioner Srinagar was enquiring the matter and he will present the report to the court as soon as the report was ready. No movement of heavy machinery be allowed to the area except the machinery for the purpose of repairing the embankment, the court said.
On January 24, the government ordered an inquiry regarding caving in of the Jhelum embankment at Lasjan.
Minister for Disaster Management, Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction (DMRRR), Javaid Mustafa Mir, had directed the Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Baseer Ahmed Khan to order an enquiry into the incident that led to the caving in of the embankment at Lasjan, an official of the department had said.
The Minister, taking a strict note of the incident had assured that the guilty will not be spared.
He had spoken to Commissioner Secretary to Government PHE, Irrigation & Flood Control Department and asked him to ensure that restoration work was started by Chief Engineer Irrigation and Flood Control Department immediately. The Minister gave directions to Director Disaster Management Aamir Ali to personally visit the spot and assess the situation, which could otherwise have endangered lives of hundreds of people, in case there was water in River Jhelum.
The Divisional Commissioner Kashmir has already ordered an enquiry into the incident, to be conducted by District Magistrate Srinagar, and ordered that the report be submitted, within a fortnight.
He had also directed Chief Engineer Irrigation and Flood Control Department Kashmir start the restoration work on a war footing basis.
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