Srinagar, June 10: In its endeavour to salvage the blocked waterways and channels of the Dal lake, the government has procured sophisticated Truxor machines from Switzerland. 
 After successfully removing land mass and weeds with Finnish Water Master Classic machines in open areas of the Dal lake, the authorities had ordered three Swiss made state-of-the-art Truxor machines exclusively for the lake’s interior areas. The machines are slated to reach Kashmir by the end of next week.
 Officials the “amphibian design and latest technology enables the Truxor to smoothly undertake cutting, dredging even in swamps and narrow channels and operate on land as well as water”.
 The Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA), entrusted with the Dal conservation has procured three Truxors at a cost of Rs 3.85 crores through the Central Government.
 “Truxor is tailor-made for restoring the blocked canals and interior areas of Dal. It is counted among the best machines with high performance at minimal maintenance. We have completed all the formalities and three Truxors are on way to the Valley,” the LAWDA vice-chairperson, Irfan Yasin told Greater Kashmir.
 The LAWDA chief said to ensure transparency and quality control the Truxors were procured through the Director General of Supplies and Disposal, a central purchase and quality assurance organisation of the Union Ministry of Commerce.
 “The Truxors have been purchased after thoroughly examining its features and cost. The procurement process is transparent and anybody can scrutinise it,” Yasin said.
 Experts said: “Degradation of Dal catchments had led to excessive siltation, growth of obnoxious weeds and drastic reduction of the depth particularly in the Dal interiors.”
  Due to extensive deterioration of the water channels, the LAWDA over the years has been struggling to undertake its restoration manually. The problem was compounded by lack of machines.
 Though, earlier this year the LAWDA had procured two Water Master Classic III machines, but they were meant for undertaking heavy dredging and suction works in open parts and front portion of the Dal. 
 Officials, however, maintain that the Water Master Classic machines have sped up the conservation efforts.
 “Water Master has been successful to excavate over 75 kanals of land mass at Tila Mohalla in lake interiors. But due to their big size, they can’t operate in lake interiors. It was impossible to pave way for these machines to reach blocked channels. So we decided to procure Truxors,” said LAWDA’s Executive Engineer, Mechanical, Mushtaq Hussain Jan.
 Officials said with the help of Truxor the LAWDA will shift its focus on restoring the blocked waterways to improve the lake’s water circulation. “The Truxor is manoeuvrable machine that can simultaneously work on land and water and perform different functions like cutting, gathering and disposing of the weeds with the help of variety of attachments. Its lightweight construction facilitates smooth mobility,” Jan said.
 Incidentally it was in 2007 that the High Court monitoring the Dal conservation, had directed the LAWDA to procure latest machines for restoring the lake’s glory. However, for three years the LAWDA had failed to procure the machines on one or other pretext. The delay in procurement of machines had evoked sharp criticism from environment experts.
 Besides the two Water Masters, LAWDA presently has four harvesters and two dredgers, most of them procured before formation of the department in 1997. Officials said though the machines were in working condition but they can’t cater to the extensive workload and give the desired output. The LAWDA plans to procure more machines in coming months.

Lastupdate on : Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 10 Jun 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 11 Jun 2010 00:00:00 IST