Where Did The Billions Meant To Shield Kashmir From Floods Go?

Just a few hours of rain can turn calm streams like Doodh Ganga and Shali Ganga into raging torrents. These tributaries feed the Jhelum, the valley's lifeline, sustaining over seven million people in a land already tested by conflict and climate.

And yet, here we are in 2025, watching villages like Dangerpora, Sheikhpora, and Hajigund in Budgam district flood under massive waterlogging. Landslides rip through Chadoora town, and weakened embankments crumble, putting lives at serious risk.

I turned to X to question the deputy commissioner of Budgam, pressing for answers on how billions meant for flood protection vanished without a trace.

What rattled us this time isn't a freak event. It's the result of decades of systemic failure.

In 2014, when floods submerged Srinagar and displaced hundreds of thousands, the central government stepped in with grand promises.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi oversaw the formation of a high-level committee led by the chairperson of the Central Water Commission. Their mission was to study the Jhelum basin in detail and craft a flood mitigation plan with immediate, short-term, and long-term measures to protect the valley.

Money flowed freely. The state disaster response fund released ₹172 crores for initial relief, with another ₹153 crores for recovery. The Irrigation and Flood Control Department embarked on re-sectioning rivers and nallahs, installing crate protections, and bolstering embankments. Spot treatments alone cost ₹98.53 crores, while broader flood restoration works tallied ₹182 crores.

All this aimed to fortify the Jhelum and its feeders against monsoon fury, which in Kashmir averages 700 millimeters annually but can spike dangerously in short bursts.

A structured approach followed. Phase I, a ₹399-crore project under the Prime Minister's Development Package, targeted bottlenecks in the Jhelum and its flood spill channel to handle low-to-moderate floods.

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