Cant Allow Kashmir To Be Ruined By Calamities : Mehbooba

Srinagar: Taking a very stern stand against encroachers, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said that government will leave no stone unturned to preserve the water bodies in Jammu and Kashmir.
She said that the illegal and unorganized encroachments on and around water bodies continue to be a substantial hurdle in the way of conservation of water bodies.
The Government wont allow encroachments in and around the water bodies and I urge the people to support us in this endeavour otherwise we may be, heading for more ferocious natural disasters than the devastating floods of September 2014, the Chief Minister said while replying to a question regarding flood management raised by MLA, M Y Tarigami in the Legislative Assembly today.
Aiming a covert attack on previous government on the floods of 2014, she said that the fore-warnings by experts regarding the possibility of devastating floods were not only overlooked but pushed to cold store.
We witnessed 2014 floods because of the massive encroachment of our water bodies. Now we are having encroachments in Dal Lake, We have lost Wullar Lake to lakhs of trees and similarly encroachments alongside Jhelum are rampant, Mehbooba said.
She said that Government is in the process of seeking technical and financial help from the Centre, to increase the carrying capacity of Wullar Lake, river Jhelum and its tributaries including Vaishaw and Rambiara nallahs in Kashmir and river Tawi and Chenab in Jammu.
Unfortunately lakhs of plants which have come up in Wullar will take us years to clear them. However we are in consultation with the experts to enhance the capacity of main water bodies and their tributaries, she said.
I assure the House that that we are going to clear the encroachments, however it is going to take some time, she maintained.
The Chief Minister said a flood-management program is also under implementation for river Jhelum under Prime Ministers Development Plan.
Ms Mehbooba said while there was a massive water crisis looming across the country, J&K was mulling to adopt a comprehensive plan for rain water conservation. We have a proper plan for the Rain Water Conservation and I have discussed the project with the Central Government as well, she said.

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