Many loopholes in the administration have come to light after the devastating floods took place in the city of Srinagar in September 2014. One glaring lapse that has raised many an eyebrow is the illegal grabbing of the land lying across the bed of Jhelum. The river has changed its course at various places with the passage of time and thus stretches of dry land have appeared. These stretches have been illegally occupied by land grabbers and they have raised structures there.
Taking due note of this situation, the High Court had ordered two Deputy Commissioners of South Kashmir to examine and submit a status report that gives the actual span of the river. This would have exposed the fraud of manipulating revenue record. But strangely, the DCs have not given due importance to the orders of the High Court and have failed to send in the status report.
State High Court has taken very serious note of vast scale land grabbing, illegal encroachment and shrinking of the Jhelum and the failure of the government agencies to address these problems. Consequently, it has issued warrant against 53 engineers of Irrigation and Flood Control Department and sought their personal appearance along with two Deputy Commissioners of South Kashmir and Chief Engineer I&FC. Senior Superintendents of Police of the districts have been asked to execute the warrant and ensure that the indicted functionaries are produced in person before the court on the date of hearing. This is what the exigency of situation has forced on the judiciary. It is a clear indicator that the Government fails to perform and deliver. Administration through judiciary is no alternative to incompetent governance. Jhelum has been changing its course, either spreading out to new areas or shrinking from usual course. Land grabbers who are almost part of a mafia, have grabbed the land which is formed by the waters of the river changing its course. What the court wants is that the Revenue Department should prepare a map of the course of river Jhelum and clearly show what portions of the river bed have been grabbed owing to diversion of the flow of water. The structures illegally raised on grabbed land obstruct free flow of water with the devastating result that we have seen during September 2014 floods in the city of Srinagar.
The engineers and the functionaries of Flood and Irrigation Department are suspected of have formed a nexus with the land grabbers and they have not honoured the orders of the High Court to vacate the encroachments. We feel that the High Court was left with no choice but to issue the order asking the engineers and others to present themselves before the court and answer the charges of negligence and dereliction of duty. We have to appreciate the bold step of the High Court because when we repeatedly say that there should be accountability to set things right, such orders are in line of enforcing accountability.
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