Over six years have passed since the morphological study of the River Tawi was completed. Yet, the DPR for a comprehensive flood mitigation plan continues to languish in bureaucratic corridors. What was envisioned as a life-saving intervention to safeguard people, property, and fertile land from recurring flood fury has instead become a story of negligence, indecision, and administrative buck-passing. The consequences of this prolonged inaction are both visible and devastating. Each monsoon, the swelling waters of Tawi erode banks, wash away soil, and inundate settlements. Families are forced into a cruel cycle of destruction and reconstruction-borrowing money, repairing homes, only to see them ravaged again the following year. What should have been a preventive project to secure the future has been reduced to a case study of bureaucratic apathy.
The process of flood management, unfortunately, follows a familiar pattern. After every major calamity, Governments rush into action with grand announcements, expert committees, and scientific studies. Reports are commissioned at great expense, and draft solutions are prepared with painstaking detail. But once the glare of public attention fades, the process slows to a crawl. Departments raise queries, seek revisions, and shift responsibility. This is precisely what has happened with the Tawi flood project. The morphological study, carried out by an international consultancy in 2018, was supposed to be the scientific backbone for robust flood protection. Yet, even after the DPR was submitted, the Irrigation and Flood Control Department raised objections requiring “major changes”, forcing revisions and delays. JKERA, the nodal agency that commissioned the study, now claims that only the Flood Control Department knows the latest status. The department, in turn, insists it was merely a facilitating agency. In effect, no authority is ready to accept ownership of the project. Passing the buck has become the default administrative posture.
This inertia is particularly alarming because the river itself has not stood still. Since the morphological study was conducted, climate change has altered rainfall intensity and patterns. Tawi’s flow, sediment load, and flood behaviour have undoubtedly changed, which means that even the revised DPR may require further adjustments to remain relevant. Time, resources, and public money already spent risk being wasted if action is delayed any longer. Even judicial intervention has not broken the deadlock. This exposes a deeper malaise in governance-where accountability is diffused, responsibility is evaded, and public safety is compromised in the name of procedure.
The consequences extend beyond annual flood losses. Encroachment on riverbanks, khuds, and nullahs continues unchecked, narrowing natural drainage channels and compounding risks. Ironically, it is often the poorest and most vulnerable residents-rather than the powerful encroachers-who suffer the worst financial losses and mental agony. Each year, crores are spent on emergency relief, temporary repairs, and reconstruction. Only contractors benefit from this endless cycle of destruction and patchwork fixes. The absence of a preventive, structural solution perpetuates a system where floods become an annual business rather than a crisis to be solved.
What makes this situation intolerable is the Government’s duty to protect both the river and the people. Nature will not wait for files to be cleared or for interdepartmental disputes to be resolved. Climate change has already shortened the return period of extreme weather events. The way forward is clear and urgent. The Government must immediately fix responsibility, set strict timelines, and ensure that the DPR is cleared without further procedural wrangling. Once approved, work on flood mitigation structures- embankments, retention basins, and river training works-should begin without delay. Equally critical is the enforcement of anti-encroachment measures along the river and its tributaries to restore natural floodplains. Transparent monitoring mechanisms must be instituted to track implementation so that the cycle of promises and delays is broken once and for all. Flood mitigation projects are inherently time-sensitive. The earlier they begin, the more effective they are in reducing risk.
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