Five Years, No Dredging: RTI Reveals Stark Inaction On Jhelum Flood Plan

(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer) Srinagar- Despite repeated flood scares in Kashmir and the devastating 2014 deluge still fresh in public memory, the government has failed to carry out any dredging in the River Jhelum or its flood spill channels since March 2020. This shocking revelation has come to light through a recent Right to Information (RTI) reply by the Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) Department.

The reply shows that the Comprehensive Flood Management Plan (CFMP), sanctioned in 2015 under the Prime Minister's Development Package (PMDP), remains far from complete. Designed to protect the Valley from future flooding, the project was supposed to enhance the river's discharge capacity. A decade later, only around 80% of the work has been finished.

Phase-I of the CFMP was launched with an allocation of ₹399 crore to improve Jhelum's flow and flood-handling capacity. Of the 31 projects tendered under this phase, only 16 have been completed, with the rest still pending. The department confirmed that ₹114.29 crore of central assistance has already been fully spent.

However, no new capital dredging work has taken place in the past five years. While the department mentioned desilting of 670 km of irrigation canals in 2023–24-removing nearly 2.9 lakh cubic meters of silt-experts say this cannot substitute for full-scale dredging of the Jhelum, which remains the Valley's main flood drain.

Further, the RTI response has revealed alarming figures on illegal encroachments along the river and its flood channels. Across divisions including Srinagar, Baramulla, Anantnag, and Kupwara, 1,884 encroachments have been identified-ranging from 283 semi-permanent structures and 1,233 illegal boundary walls to 215 trees planted on embankments.

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Despite repeated official orders, only two boundary walls and 200 trees have been removed so far, indicating weak enforcement. Encroachments in flood-prone districts like Sopore, Pulwama, Bandipora, and Shopian continue to choke natural water flow, raising serious questions about disaster preparedness.

The department admitted that no new Detailed Project Report (DPR) has been submitted in recent years, although the Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP) has conducted a fresh flood study. A new DPR is reportedly being prepared but is yet to be placed before the government.

A senior official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said,“There is a glaring disconnect between the urgency of the flood threat and the pace of official action.”

The last major dredging effort, by M/s Reach Dredgers, Kolkata, was marked complete, but no new tenders have been floated since then. This is despite the 2018 recommendations by the Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), which had warned of serious risks and called for urgent dredging along the Sangam-Asham stretch of the river.

With the monsoon season now underway and thousands still haunted by the trauma of the 2014 floods, experts and citizens alike are worried. The Valley's key flood management infrastructure remains underprepared, leaving it dangerously exposed to yet another disaster. (inputs from KNO)

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