Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Feb 20: More than a decade after the devastating September 2014 floods, long-term flood mitigation measures recommended by a three-member core group constituted on 18th September 2014 by the Ministry of Water Resources (RD&GR) are yet to be implemented.
Replying to a question by MLA Pirzada Farooq Ahmad Shah, the government said the core group was formed to provide a roadmap for Flood Management of the Kashmir valley. The recommendations were categorised into Immediate, Short Term and Long Term measures, depending upon implementation time.
Under Immediate Measures, urgent protection works and restoration of damages caused due to the September 2014 floods were taken up. The department restored 4,555 breaches and vulnerable spots, 3,320 temporarily and 1,235 permanently, out of funds made available under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and other sources.
Under Short Term Measures, aimed at mitigating a flood threat of 60,000 cusecs at Sangam, the Government submitted a draft plan to the Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India, for “Comprehensive Flood Management of River Jhelum and its tributaries for an amount of Rs 2,083.90 crore” in 2009-10.
The proposal was sanctioned under the Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP) in 2015. DPRs against the PMDP allocation of Rs 2,083.90 crore were framed in two parts as per Central Water Commission instructions.
PMDP Phase-I, costing Rs 399.29 crore, was implemented from 2015-16 and stands substantially completed, the government said. The safe flood carrying capacity of River Jhelum in the Srinagar reach has been enhanced from 31,800 cusecs to 41,000 cusecs, an increase of 22%.
Major bottlenecks in the Flood Spill Channel were removed at Shariefabad and Naidkhai, doubling the carrying capacity at the outfall from 4,000 to 8,700 cusecs. An expenditure of Rs 327.04 crore has been incurred under this phase.
PMDP Phase-II (Part A), costing Rs 1,623.43 crore, was approved in March 2022. The government said 31 bank protection and anti-erosion works worth Rs 276.61 crore are under execution, of which 16 have been completed. Two regulatory gates at Hokersar wetland have also been completed and commissioned at a cost of Rs 28.45 crore.
An expenditure of Rs 160.563 crore has been incurred so far under Phase-II, against funds released amounting to Rs 220.97 crore. The government said work done claims of Rs 70 crore are in the process of payment following the recent release of Rs 60.4125 crore as the Government of India share.
However, the Government did not indicate any timeline for the implementation of the Long Term measures recommended by the core group for comprehensive flood management in the valley.
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