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| Will new flood channel save valley from floods? | | Govt does not know! | | Early Times Report
Srinagar, Mar 5: There years on, no progress has been made on Dogripora flood channel as the government doubts whether it can save the valley from floods or not.
In the backdrop of the 2014 September floods, the Union Ministry of Water Resources in December 2014 asked the state government for framing of the DPR for the 80-km Dogripora channel to be constructed from Awantipora in south Kashmir to Wular lake in north Kashmir's Bandipora district.
But during the last three years, the DPR could not be framed for this mega project for unknown reasons.
The project as per state government preliminary estimates is expected to cost Rs 20,000 crore.
The I&FC department had earlier invited tenders from foreign experts for framing of the DPR for the mega project, which according to sources could not be "materialized".
"There is been no much progress in this regard," an official said. "Government is not sure whether it is possible to construct the new flood channels."
Under this mega project, an official said new flood channel would carry surplus flood discharge of Jehlum. "It would have been a complete road map for prevention of floods in the valley," the official said.
The discharge capacity of river Jehlum is around 30000 cuscus but during September 2014 it flowed around 1 lakh 30 thousand cuscus.
A study titled 'A satellite-based rapid assessment on floods in Jammu & Kashmir-September, 2014' conducted jointly by the Department of Environment & Remote Sensing (DERS) and ISRO had warned that intensity of rainfall and frequency of rainy days in the Himalayan region may increase in 2030s, leading to another flood in Kashmir if immediate steps are not taken to restore the drainage system of Jhelum. The study also recommended an alternate flood spill channel for Jhelum should be constructed.
It had been seen that water level of rivers increases even by average downpour due to less carrying capacity of water bodies in the region. The Wular lake which is the largest flood absorption basin has lost the water carrying capacity due to host of factors. Several survey have found that gross human interference, deforestation, encroachments, chocking of water ways and reduction in capacity of wet lands due to heavy siltation posing an imminent threat of floods even by average downpour.
The Indus Water Treaty signed between India-Pakistan has also placed curbs on the construction of storage reservoirs on rivers in J&K which could ensure the provision of requisite water flow.
According to the official figures, the Valley has a history of floods of around 130 years. The first flood which has been recorded on the Shergari gauge dates back to July 21, 1893. The Shergari gauge, the first gauge was set up in 1893. Since then, some major floods hit the Valley in 1900, 1902, 1903, 1905, 1912, 1929, 1948, 1950, 1957, 1959, 2014 and in 2015 which vividly indicate that there was a dire need of increasing the drainage capacity of water bodies in Kashmir. |
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