Chandigarh Jan 21 PTI Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Friday said the mythical Saraswati river will be rejuvenated with the construction of Adi Badri dam near Yamunanagar for which the state has signed an agreement with neighbouring Himachal Pradesh The religious beliefs will also be revived with the rejuvenation of the Saraswati river Along with this the area will also develop as a pilgrimage site Khattar said at the Memorandum of Understanding MoU signing ceremony for the construction of dam at Adi Badri in the presence of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur at Panchkula The Haryana chief minister said the objective of the project is to revive the Saraswati river as well as increase ground water level With the commissioning of the dam the flood situation arising out of excessive rainfall during rainy days will also be dealt with The lake being built near it will also promote tourism he added Haryana Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal and Himachal Pradesh Chief Secretary Ram Subhag Singh signed the MoU on behalf of the respective state governments for the construction of the dam in the presence of Khattar and Thakur Notably Adi Badri near Haryana-Himachal Pradesh border is believed to be the mythical rivers origin point Speaking on the occasion Khattar said his 35-year-old dream has now come true I had travelled in 1986-87 in connection with the research on the revival of the Saraswati river This journey started from Adi Badri in Yamunanagar and reached till Kutch With the construction of Adi Badri dam water will flow continuously in the Saraswati river throughout the year he noted Kurukshetra University and Haryana Saraswati Heritage Development Board are conducting the research on the mythical river Khattar said the Adi Badri dam will be built on 3166 hectares of land in Himachal Pradesh and an amount of Rs 21533 crore will be spent for the same It will store 22458 hectare metres of water every year of which Himachal Pradesh will get 6188 hectare metres of water and Haryana the remaining which will flow into the Saraswati river he said The width of the dam will be 10106 metres and height 205 metres The Haryana chief minister said with the construction of the dam the area around it will also develop as a pilgrimage site Notably the dam at Adi Badri will also get water from the Somb river that falls in the Yamuna near Adi Badri in Yamunanagar Meanwhile Thakur said the Adi Badri dam will meet the requirement of irrigation and drinking water for both states Due to the flow of water in the Saraswati river this area will also be developed from the point of view of religious tourism he added Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also expressed his desire for the revival of the Saraswati river the chief minister said Proper compensation will be given to landowners whose land will be used for the construction of the dam he added Thakur said in the coming days foundation stone of the dam will be laid after completing all formalities related to the project Governments of both the states are also preparing the roadmap for many other projects together This will develop tourism in both the regions he added Khattar also said that the area from Kalka to Kalesar is important from tourisms point of view Many religious and tourist places come in this area including Adi Badri Lohagarh Kapal Mochan Mata Mantra Devi he said He said several projects will be worked out in collaboration with Himachal Pradesh including construction of a dam at Hathnikund barrage In this dam water flowing from mountains to the Hathnikund barrage will be stored so that the crops can also be saved from flood-like situations Survey work for this dam will start soon he said PTI SUN SRY

New Delhi Jan 19 PTI Union minister Jitendra Singh on Wednesday said the output of the employees in some cases has increased during the work-from-home regimeWork from home has also resulted in employees working on weekends and holidays to achieve the target given to them the minister of state for personnel saidSingh reached out to the employees of the Ministry of Personnel Public Grievances and Pensions working from home and also those in quarantine or infected with the coronavirusHe inquired about the well-being of each one of them and also asked them to share their experiences and suggestions according to a statement issued by the personnel ministrySingh lauded the efforts dedication and commitment of the officers and staff to ensure that the office functions without interruptions during the pandemic and noted with appreciation that the output has not suffered and in stead in some cases it has increased because of the target-oriented work culture with flexible timingsHe said the overall output was also better due to the near total adoption of the e-office modeSeveral officers and staff of the ministry shared their experiences online with the minister and reiterated their commitment to the target-oriented work culture it saidSingh assured those affected by the pandemic and their family members of all help and support from the ministry the statement said A Virtual Private Network VPN connection has been provided to all the employees to facilitate work from home it addedSingh said pregnant women and divyang differently-abled employees have been exempted from attending office and the physical attendance of government servants below the level of undersecretary has been restricted to 50 per cent of the actual strength and the remaining 50 per cent shall work from homeHowever the minister said the officials and staff who are not attending office and are working from home shall remain available over the phone and through other electronic means of communications at all timesHe advised all the officers and staff to ensure a strict compliance of Covid-appropriate behaviour including frequent washing of hands or sanitisation wearing face masks or face covers and observing social distancing all the time Proper cleaning and sanitisation of the workplace particularly the frequently-touched surfaces may also be ensured he addedDuring the meeting Singh noted with satisfaction that all the eligible employees aged 18 years and above were fully vaccinated against Covid and made a general appeal to those who are yet to get inoculated against the viral disease to get the jabs immediatelyThe minister was apprised that of the 663 officers and staff of the Department of Personnel and Training DoPT 46 tested positive for Covid with mild symptoms and 20 of them have recoveredSimilarly eight of the 158 employees in the Department of Administrative Reform and Public Grievances DARPG and six of the 58 employees in the Department of Pension and Pensioners Welfare DoPPW got infected during the third wave of the pandemic However not a single case of hospitalisation was reported the statement saidSecretary DoPT P K Tripathy Secretary DARPG and Pensions V Srinivas Additional Secretary DoPT Rashmi Chowdhary Additional Secretary and Establishment Officer DoPT Deepti Umashankar Jaya Dubey Joint Secretary DARPG and other senior officials attended the meeting PTI AKV RC

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