The rainfall on Friday and Saturday brought back terrible memories of the September 2014 floods as the water level went up in Jhelum and other rivers and streams.
It rained hardly two days and our rivers and streams flooded with water. Had the rainfall continued Srinagar would have been inundated along with other places. Our link roads and residential colonies are already waterlogged in many areas, Srinagar as well as other districts.
Earlier it would take about a week worth of rainfall for some places to get inundated with rain water. But this has changed for the worse now. Even after it rains for merely one hour, we see busy junctions like Lal Chowk, Jahangir Chowk, Batmaloo and Bemina flooded with water.
Has our Government thought why are we witnessing such changes? Is our Government prepared to counter a possible flood threat in the coming months?
Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project
After the devastating floods of September 2014 when Srinagar city remained flooded for almost a month, the Government of India requested assistance from the World Bank.
An emergency project “Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project ” was started in J&K which was to primarily focus on restoring critical infrastructure using international best practice on resilient infrastructure. As J&K is prone to natural disasters like floods and earthquakes, the infrastructure under this project was supposed to be designed with upgraded resilient features and included contingency planning for future disaster events.
The projects were also supposed to support the recovery and were supposed to increase disaster resilience in project areas. Additionally, they were to increase the capacity of the project implementing entities to respond promptly and effectively to an eligible crisis or emergency.
However, after 8 years of the devastating floods and funding having been allocated by the World Bank, it seems things are not moving in the right direction. With the recurrent flooding of our roads and blocking of drainage channels with rain water, it seems things are not moving in a good direction vis a vis implementing these twin projects in Srinagar and Jammu.
Urban Flood Management
Under the Urban Flood Management programme, the World Bank provided around 50 million US dollars (Rs 300 Crores) to the J & K Govt through the Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project. To execute the words, an amount of Rs 103 Crores were provided to Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) for the construction of 49 storm water pumping stations in Srinagar to prevent waterlogging and flooding in low lying areas.
Out of the 49 pumping stations, four pump stations were upgraded by the city drainage division of Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) at Natipora, Barzulla, Bul Bul Bagh and Magray Pora. The work here has already been completed.
But are these water pumping stations really pumping out storm water? No.
These pump stations are flushing liquid waste including human excreta into the Doodh Ganga. This is an open violation of the Water (prevention & control of pollution) Act 1974 and the same was brought into the notice of National Green Tribunal (NGT) few years back by this author and the NGT penalised the J&K Govt with Rs 3 crores out of which SMC has paid Rs 1 crore penalty already last year.
Section 24 (b) of the Water Act 1074 reads:
“No person shall knowingly cause or permit to enter into any stream any other matter which may tend, either directly or in combination with similar matters, to impede the proper flow of the water of the stream in a manner leading or likely to lead to a substantial aggravation of pollution due to other causes or of its consequences.”
By wrongfully using the World Bank money, the authorities at helm have not only caused environmental pollution but have also cheated and misled the World Bank and flood threat around Doodh Ganga continues to remain unaddressed.
The J&K Pollution Control Committee has already identified 13 drainage stations from Chanapora to Barzulla as the main sources of water pollution in Doodh Ganga, which on paper, showed that these stations were set up to mitigate the flood water in these areas.
Since June 2020, the Srinagar Municipal Corporation started implementing the World Bank funded scheme for the upgradation of 49 drainage stations located in Srinagar city. Out of these,13 pump stations are located on Doodh Ganga which have been upgraded at an estimated cost of Rs 4 crores each. More than 52 crore rupees have been spent on these so called water pumping stations but they actually pump filth and waste into the Doodh Ganga in violation of Water Act 1974.
PCCs report to High Court
As per the report submitted by the J&K Pollution Control Committee (PCC) before J&K High Court in the matter of PIL on Doodh Ganga, the PCC had exposed how fecal matter and sewerage was entering into Doodh Ganga between Chadoora town to Barzulla and the same water was being lifted by PHE Jal Shakti at Kralpora and supplied to a population of 8 lakh people in Srinagar’s uptown area.
The PCC, on the direction of the High Court, conducted a detailed survey of Doodh Ganga stream from Sogam village in Chadoora to Barzulla area of Srinagar two years back. According to a survey reports, a lot of water pollution was found in Doodh Ganga.
The PIL in J&K High Court was closed down as the matter was being heard by NGT now.
The 13 pump stations have now already been blacklisted by the Pollution Control Committee but they continue to be constructed and are pumping out all the waste into Doodh Ganga.
Immediate Concerns
The continuous landfilling of Jhelum basin around Pampore will lead to a major disaster. The construction of Qazigund Baramulla rail line and now the under construction Srinagar Semi Ring Road is choking the flood plains of Jhelum around Gallander, Kandizal, Pohro, Khanda, Suthsoo and surrounding areas. The flood waters of Jhelum have less space to move out. Same is the case with Bemina, Narbal and Hokersar areas where wetlands have been choked due to urbanisation. The drainage system in Srinagar is also obstructed by plastic waste. The constant Clay Mining in Karewas is increasing silt accumulation in small streams and nallahs during rains which causes flood threat. The illegal riverbed mining has weakened embankments of most of our rivers and during floods these embankents can be washed away easily.
The flood threat is looming. The authorities have to be alert. In addition, a detailed audit be undertaken about the utilization of funds that were given to J&K post 2014 floods.
- Views expressed in the article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the editorial stance of Kashmir Observer
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