Drudging and de-silting of River Jhelum were in place in our State during the times of the reign of the last Maharaja. Floods in the Valley then were few and far between. Construction of flood channel in Srinagar was meant to save the city from flood waters of the Jhelum when in spate. But more importantly, the reason why we did not have many massive floods of the scale of September 2014 was that no constructions were allowed or carried out on dry beds of water bodies and other places that would become a cause of obstruction to the free and natural flow of flood waters. After independence, the dried up river, stream or nullah beds and open spaces adjoining the rivers, streams and nullahs were illegally occupied by people with a clout in the corridors of power. They raised structures on them without any permission from either the Municipality or Revenue department authorities. These illegal structures have become the main cause of floods the like of which we have seen during September 2014.
The 2014 floods alerted the Government as well as civil society. It brought the issue of flood control into sharp focus and the Government machinery moved to find a lasting solution to such natural calamities. Irrigation and Flood Control Department was created and assigned the duty of de-silting the river bed, removing bottlenecks and ensuring free flow of water including flood water. The Department has been doing its work but raising illegal structures on river beds that obstruct the flow of water and cause inundation is a matter which has to be dealt with either by the Revenue or the Police Department. Just because these illegal structures continued to be raised and their removal became unlikely with the passage of time, the Irrigation and Flood Department naturally became helpless. The floods of 2014 were eye opener for the Government and many of its relevant departments.
Two years have passed when the Valley and some parts in Jammu region were struck by unprecedented flood. It was expected that the Government agencies would treat this matter on priority and take immediate steps that would contribute to controlling of flood waters whenever and wherever these occur. A 13-member committee constituted by the Legislative Assembly was assigned the task of conducting a study of what plans the Irrigation and Flood Control Department had made to ensure control over floods if these occur anywhere in the State.
After conducting a study of progress in the task assigned to the Irrigation and Flood Control Department the panel found that so far no blue print has been prepared by the department for the entire State. The Committee on Estimates headed by People’s Democratic Party (PDP) MLA, Javid Hassan Beigh and comprising 10 Members of Legislative Assembly and two of Legislative Council in its 45th report submitted to the Legislature few days back has observed that Irrigation and Flood Control Department has yet not prepared any blue print to ensure that September 2014 like situation doesn’t recur in any part of Jammu and Kashmir. Though, the department claims that it was working on both short and long term strategies to combat future floods but the exercise has yet not been completed till date despite lapse of more than one and half year since the last devastating floods.
The panel has observed in its report that the activities of the Flood Control Department have not to remain confined to the valley and River Jhelum only. In other words it does not want the task of flood control to remain confined to Phase- I of Flood Management Programme only including removal of illegal constructions. It emphasizes that attention has to be paid towards other rivers and river bodies as well. The report goes on to say that illegal residential colonies that have come up on the wet lands and river banks over the decades are aggravating the chances of floods not only in Srinagar city but in other parts of the State also. The Committee of Estimates warns that unless steps to check illegal constructions and encroachments are initiated the situation will not improve up to the desired level and threat of floods will continue to loom large in many parts of the State.
To concretize its observation, the Estimates Committee has cited the example of the Golf Course in Sidhra, which, it says has become a major source of obstruction of the flood waters in River Tawi in Jammu region. Golf Course is not the result of private enterprise; it has been built by the JMC, a project of public enterprise. Recommending the Government to launch a forceful drive for eviction of illegal constructions in river beds, the report suggests that the Government constitute a committee to monitor the progress of drudging, de-silting, encroachment removing, and other similar tasks and submit timely reports to the authorities concerned. The committee has recommended that the Deputy Commissioners should be given full powers to remove illegal structures and take the help of the police if need be. It has urged the Irrigation and Food Control Department to ensure that all encroachments are removed. The panel has taken serious note of non-completion of 2003-04 irrigation schemes in Udhampur district besides expressing concern over Kandi Canal Bhadarwah, which was sanctioned at an estimated cost of Rs 53.70 crore in 2006-07 but has not been completed till date.
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