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| Government not nature caused catastrophic floods in 2014: Inquiry report | | Major errors cited as authorities left flood prone areas unattended, schemes unimplemented | |
EARLY TIMES REPORT
Jammu, Jan 6: Five years after the catastrophic floods of 2014 wrecked havoc across Jammu and Kashmir, particularly in the summer capital of the erstwhile state- Srinagar- the details about this nature fury cites non- seriousness of the government as a primary reason for its occurrence.
The inquiry report has cited serious flaws in the functioning of the concerned departments in the erstwhile state over taking requite measures towards making the flood prone areas protected.
The investigations, a copy of which is in possession of Early Times newspaper, reveal shocking details. As per the report , in the floods of September 2014, Srinagar and adjoining districts were the most affected areas. The heavy rainfall resulted in huge water discharge in the Jhelum river exceeding the carrying capacity of the river and its flood channels. This combined with blocked flood channels and inadequate flood control measures triggered floods with devastating effect. The flood spill channels with original carrying capacity of 17,000 cusecs of water had been reduced to a carrying capacity of 4,000 cusecs of water due to accumulation of sediment load from various nallahs which merge with the channel at various points. To address this issue, a scheme for improvement to flood spill channel by way of construction of central channel of small cross section was taken up in the year 2008-09 by the Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC) Department at an estimated cost of Rs14.93 crore. Subsequently, this was subsumed in the year 2010-11 under the ‘Flood Threat to River Jhelum Scheme’ at an estimated cost of Rs 50.68 crore.
Similarly, reveal teh official documents, against 11,947 metres and 11,78,331 cubic metres of flood spill channel required to be treated and excavated respectively as per the DPR of the scheme, only 8,087 metres (68 per cent) and 5,05,995.13 cubic metres (43 per cent) were treated and excavated respectively.
Documents reveal that Rs 9.20 crore was utilized on construction of structures at Wullar lake and miscellaneous items which were not approved in the DPR. No Objection Certificate (NOC) was required to be obtained from wetland authorities for execution of construction works in wetland areas falling under the area of implementation of the scheme. The requisite NOC was not obtained prior to start of the work. Consequently, construction of drainage channel covering 1,641 metres, allotted in July 2011 to a contractor for an amount of Rs 1.44 crore could not be completed due to objection raised against the construction by the wetland authorities. As a result, 2,07,172 cubic metres of earth could not be excavated from the wetland area and the wetland continued to remain filled with silt despite an expenditure of Rs 27.97 lakh incurred on the project.
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