Save Kashmir from future floods!

The flood vulnerability of mountain-locked Kashmir has turned into a political battle! The ruling regime is raising fingers at the lack of flood mitigation measures by previous regimes. This has literally lit the political flame!

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah a few days ago minced no words to blame PDP-BJP coalition regime for failing to undertake flood mitigation measures. During Omar’s first tenure as CM, major areas of Srinagar were submerged during devastating floods in 2014.

Omar raised fingers on the utilisation of funds sanctioned after the 2014 floods. “Where is the money for dredging the Jhelum and the flood channel? Did dredging happen under the PDP-BJP government. Who was the minister then.” Omar did not stop here and sought explanation to the people for what happened to the World Bank and flood relief funds. “Tell us, where did the money go? Who siphoned it? This year, just two days of rain created a flood scare. In 2014, floods came after seven days of rain. We were saved only because Allah stopped the rain. What has been done all these years for Srinagar city, which continues to be neglected,” Omar rued.

Even in the recently concluded Autumn session of the Legislative Assembly, several legislators decried the lack of flood mitigation measures in Kashmir.

The Assembly was informed that despite the passing of over a decade since the 2014 floods, the crucial Phase-II of the Jhelum Flood Mitigation Project sanctioned under the Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP) is still under execution.

It is to be noted that Phase-II of the project has been sanctioned for Rs 1,623.43 crore. Funds released by Government of India amounts to Rs 114.29 crore as 1st installment and so far Rs 114.29 crore has been spent. The short-term flood mitigation measures were announced in 2015 as part of PMDP, with an overall allocation of Rs 2,083.90 crore. The Jal Shakti department claims that these measures were executed in two phases—Phase I and Phase II.It was also informed that there is no such proposal for construction of new flood channels in Srinagar.

Authorities claim that Phase-I approved for Rs 399.29 crore in 2015-16 by the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR) has been almost completed. The flood protection work of Rs 200 crore has been executed under this project. Besides, land acquisition of 1,750 canals worth Rs 142.33 crore was done.

The legislators were informed that the outcome of these interventions under Phase-I has led to the increase of carrying capacity of Jhelum from 31,800 cusecs to 41,000 cusecs. As per experts, there is a need to raise Jhelum’s capacity to one lakh cusecs to prevent flooding of catchment areas.

The Government admitted that despite flood mitigation measures, several areas in Srinagar including Lasjan, Gandbal, Soiteng, Vethpara, Padshahi Bagh, Kursoo Rajbagh, Shivpora, Sonawar, Batwara, Rajbagh, and Jawahar Nagar, are highly flood-prone.

When the Jhelum discharge will exceed 40,000 cusecs, these areas will be prone to flooding. And adding salt to the injury is that the government proposes short-term measures to mitigate flood threats in these localities including the restoration of weak spots identified during safety audits of river embankments through temporary protection works such as the laying of filled Erosion Control bags. This means that during rains, people of these areas will have to live under constant threat of floods and live under the mercy of sand bags!

Where is the Government lacking on flood mitigation? Why is the Government silent on restoration of Jhelum’s flood plains? There must be a probe how wetlands comprising the Jhelum floodplains like Hokersar, Bemina wetland, Narakara wetland, Batamaloo numbal, Rakh-e-arth, have not only been filled, encroached upon, but urbanised too. The built-up area within the floodplains of Jhelum has increased by four times from 55.47 sq. km in 1972 to over 200 sq. km. As if this was not enough, the construction of railway tracks and Bypass without adequate water canals severely affect inundation levels and patterns of Jhelum during floods.

In blatant violation of norms, Environmental Impact Assessment is rarely conducted before execution of development projects. This has changed the rather vandalised eco-fragile landscape of Jhelum.

Kashmir has been reeling under flood threats from centuries at regular intervals with major ones in 1903, 1905, 1909, 1928, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1957, 1959, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1969, 1972, 1973, 1976, 1986, 1992, 1995, 1996, 2006 and the devastating one in 2014.

Experts maintain that floods are mostly caused by the filling up of Jhelum’s flood plains and backwater effects due to low outflows from Wullar Lake which over the decades has lost its carrying capacity by heavy accumulation of silt. There is a need to expedite the pace of comprehensive bathymetric–hydrodynamic study of Wular Lake to assess its current water carrying capacity, delineate and validate critically silted areas, and take measures to prevent silt influx from feeding channels.

We need to learn from the British who constructed embankments and water regulatory gates during the Dogra rule to save Srinagar from floods. Till 1947, Dogra rulers used to breach Kandzal area to save Srinagar from inundation. The flood water used to spread till central kashmir’s Budgam areas. Now this floodplain is buried under houses!

It doesn’t need studies to prevent floods but just a sense of responsibility by the government and people. Official apathy and public greed are squarely responsible for deterioration of Jhelum and other water bodies. It needs political and public will to increase the carrying capacity of Jhelum.

We cannot let our future generations live under constant fear of floods after a rainy spell. Let us learn to respect nature as our survival depends on it.

 Author is Executive Editor,

Greater Kashmir