What happened to 2014 flood mitigation funds?
It is now very much clear that massive funds that were provided to Jammu & Kashmir Government post 2014 floods have been misappropriated. Had it rained for some more hours Srinagar would again have been flooded and devastated ? What have authorities done with the money they got from Govt of India for flood mitigation post 2014 floods?
I remember that soon after the September 2014 floods, a three members group under the chairmanship of the Central Water Commission’s Chairperson was constituted on the instruction of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Ministry of Water Resources, Govt of India on September 18th 2014 issued orders to conduct an in-depth study and analysis of the unprecedented floods in J&K. This study and detailed analysis was aimed at formulation of a detailed action plan to overcome the future flood threats in Kashmir valley especially Jhelum basin. The Chairperson Central Water Commission-CWC, Commissioner Indus and the Director National Institute of Hydrology Roorkee recommended immediate measures, short term measures and long term measures for flood mitigation in Jhelum and its tributaries.
Immediate measures
Under the immediate measures J&K Govt through Irrigation and Flood Control department plugged all the breaches and restored more than 3000 spots with temporary restoration. More than 1200 spots were restored with permanent restoration. An amount of Rs. 172 crores and Rs 153 crores were released respectively under state disaster response fund. The Irrigation and Flood Control Department under administrative control of Jal Shakti Department also executed many flood restoration works throughout the Kashmir valley. This included Re-sectioning/Channelization of River/ Nallahs, Crate Protection Works, Strengthening/Raising of embankments of both Jhelum & its tributaries for which the funds were released by Jal Shakti Department J&K Govt under Spot Treatment and M.H-4711 Flood Restoration involving a cost of Rs. 98.5348 crores and Rs. 182 crores respectively.
Short term measures
Jal Shakti Department J&K Govt under short term measures conceived this work in two phases i.e., Phase-I & Phase-II. It was decided that until the long-term flood mitigation measures would get conceived and approved, a Priority Flood Management Project-PFMP was prepared by the experts for taking up important works. The main aim of these works was to remove all the immediate and major bottlenecks in the Jhelum river along with the Flood Spill Channel. This was aimed at providing relief from low intensity to moderate floods in future. A detailed project report -DPR of Rs 399 crores was approved by Govt of India through Central Water Commission -CWC under the “Priority Works – Comprehensive Plan for Flood Management Works on Jhelum – Phase-I. This was approved in the year 2015-16 and was funded under Prime Ministers Development Programme-PMDP. This project has been completed but needs a third party inspection.
Flood Mitigation Phase II
The Central Water Commission (CWC) recommended that the discharge carrying capacity of Jhelum river was proposed to be increased to 60,000 cusec at Sangam Anantnag and 61110 Cusec at Ningli-Tarzoo in Baramulla. Accordingly Jal Shakti Department JK Govt during the execution of the Phase-I, started the preparations of formulation for the DPR for Phase-II by carrying out the Mathematical Model Studies-MMS of Jhelum river through a reputed institution Central Water Power Research Station-CWPRS, Pune. The recommendations of the CWPRS, Pune in their detailed study report formed the basis of the formulation of the detailed project report-DPR for Phase-II.
The DPR of “Comprehensive Flood Management works on River Jhelum & its tributaries- Phase-II” was prepared at an estimated cost of more than Rs 5411 crores. This DPR was submitted to the Department of Water Resources-DoWR under the Ministry of Jal Shakti Govt of India in January 2019 for approval. On the recommendations of CWC, the DPR for Phase-II was divided into two parts, and the Part-A of the project for around Rs 1783 crores was submitted before the Central Water Commission -CWC in September 2019.
The CWC accordingly approved Part-A of the project at an estimated cost of Rs 1623.43 crore in the 143rd Technical Advisory Committee meeting of the Department of Water Resources, Ministry of Jal Shakti which was held in New Delhi on December 9th 2019. It was also cleared by the 12th Investment Clearance Committee of Department of Water Resources-Ministry of Jal Shakti on February 19th 2020, at September 2019 price level. Subsequently the J&K Finance Department and the Administrative Council-AC gave its concurrence for providing state share and “in-principle” approval of the project Part-A respectively.
Flood Management Border Area Programme-FMBAP
A comprehensive and detailed plan for Flood Management Works on River Jhelum & its Tributaries Phase-II (Part A) for Rs 1623 Crores was included under Flood Management Project (FMP) component of Flood Management Border Area Programme (FMBAP) for the period 2021-26 by the Inter-ministerial Committee in the first meeting at New Delhi which was held in March 2022 with 90:10 funding pattern (Centre & UT ratio)
The funds to the tune of Rs. 114 Crores have been sanctioned by Government of India in year 2022 as 1st installment and have been already released to the J&K Finance Department. The J&K Administrative Council chaired by LG Manoj Sinha on July 6th 2023 approved the project titled “Comprehensive Flood Management of River Jhelum and its Tributaries-Phase-II (Part-A)” at an estimated cost of Rs 1623 crores and directed Jal Shakti Department to expedite preparation of tenders and spend an amount of Rs 114 crores which was already released by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India in May, 2022 to J&K Govt under central assistance. The Lt Governor Manoj Sinha gave his approval as well for the construction of hydraulic gates (regulators) at the entry point of Hokersar wetland in Srinagar-Budgam area for which Rs 29 crores (approx) were spent but rest of the works were not taken up for a long time. I am not aware as of now what is the status of this project ?
Conclusion
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Thursday expressed deep concern over the Valley’s vulnerability to floods, questioning why lessons from the devastating 2014 floods had not been learnt despite the passage of a decade. Omar Abdullah said there was a pressing need to understand the shortcomings in the system. “We need to know where we are lacking and why we have not learnt any lessons after the 2014 floods. Where did the money go that was provided to us, what is our dredging capacity, and why do we get scared of floods after just two days of rainfall?” he questioned ?
As CM , Omar Abdullah can at least get the matter probed? Why not constitute a committee under a sitting High Court Judge to probe this matter ? Hundreds and thousands of crores was provided for flood mitigation in Jhelum and Tawi river basins but with the recent flood fury it is clear that the money has been siphoned off which needs a high level inquiry.
Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat is an Acumen Fellow and Chairman J&K RTI Movement
