HC panel to monitor barrage

Ranchi, Jan. 18: Jharkhand High Court today ordered constitution of a committee, led by a retired judge, to supervise construction of the barrage on the Kanhar River in Garhwa, pending since 1974.

A division bench of justices N.N. Tiwari and Shree Chandrashekhar were hearing a PIL filed by Hemendra Pratap Dehati on the inordinate delay in completing construction of the barrage.

While a former high court judge will be chairman, the water resources secretary will be co-ordinator of the committee that will have Dehati and the Kanhar project's executive engineer as members.

The panel will hold meetings and co-ordinate work involved for expediting construction of the barrage. The government was also directed to provide funds for the committee.

The case, based on Dehati's Pil filed in 2009, will be taken up again in March.

The government has already spent Rs 73 crore on the project ' changed to construct a barrage instead of a dam on the court's prodding ' but the barrage is far from complete, Dehati said in his petition.

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