EARTH NEWS SERVICE Jammu, Nov 30 |15: The Indus River which was blocked at Bema due to flash flood during July/August, 2015 and the devastating water had formed an artificial lake in Bema village sinking many residential houses, shops, restaurants, DG set of the village, PWD Rest House, and completely washed away Medical Aid Center, agricultural lands and fruit trees in the village and it was a big challenge for the LAHDC Leh and District Administration for removal of the debris from the river. Soon after the formation of the 5th LAHDC Leh the Chief Executive Councilor LAHDC, Leh Dr. Sonam Dawa Lonpo swung into action and visited the site and after taking meetings with District Administration and other agencies, it was unanimously decided that a joint effort will be made for removal of debris from blockage of Indus river at Beema on warfooting-basis with the support of 81 RCC; P&R Infra Project, DhaHanu; HIMANK; NHPC, Leh, and PWD, Leh. Accordingly, a challenging operation started from November 26, 2015 and with the efforts of the Council and District Administration, they were successful in dividing the river water to two sides making it possible for the heavy machines to operate frequently in the river for removing the huge boulders from the river. Councilor Skurbuchan Phuntsog Stanzin, who is also the overall Coordinator In-charge at the site, while speaking to the media persons at Beema yesterday informed that so far 3 heavy machines (Portland) were received at the site and only two machines have been deployed. They have already removed debris from the other site of the river and brought down about 3 meters from the original level and succeeded in dividing the water. “Now we can perform the removal work easily and hope the operation will be completed successfully within a weeks’ time and hopefully will be able to draw out the remaining water from the village”, said Stanzin. He further added that one more machine is held at Kahltsi due to some technical snag in the trailer and is expected to reach at the site by evening. However expressing dissatisfaction over the callous attitude of BRO and HIMANK, the Councilor said that the BRO/ HIMANK had promised to provide men and machinery for the operation but so far no any assistance was provided by them. As a result, in order to carry out the crucial work, the councilor had to contact civil contractors at Khaltsi for rock broker and compressors. Tsewang Raftan a resident of Bema appealed the LAHDC and District Administration for early restoration of irrigation khuls and its head works and for taking early steps for rehabilitation of the affected families
