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| Admin caught napping on south Kashmir sinkhole! | | Experts fear disaster, locals await high level meeting | |  Early Times Report
jammu, Feb 16: Even as a major sinkhole in south Kashmir's Kokernag has left the Brengi stream pour straight into the Earth, leaving some twenty kilometres of downstream high and dry, the experts have pressed the panic button. The administration, however, is yet to call any high level meeting.
The vertical hole that developed in the stream near Wandevalgam village of Kokernag has disrupted the flow of water of the Grengi nallah as it pours straight into the sinkhole, which shows no sign of exit of water.
Experts said millions of gallons of water are going into the sinkhole leaving the areas downstream dry. The experts are apprehensive about the fallouts of the sinkhole.
"Frankly speaking, we have no practical know how of dealing with such a situation and we don't know the fate of the water which is flowing down into the sinkhole. What one expects is that the administration calls a high level meeting at the provincial level to decide the future course of action," said a geologist on the condition of anonymity.
He said the stream should have been diverted to prevent any further flow of water into the sinkhole. He said the present status of the stream suggests that thousands of hectares of cultivable land in the area would be left without any major source for irrigation unless a high level meeting is called "to strategise things."
The locals said they were apprehensive of their fate. "What if the water flowing into the sinkhole looses the soil making our villages sink in? What if our area remains deprived of water which were irrigating the villages?" asked the Kokernag locals.
Officials said the problem needs coordinated efforts of all the departments like the Jammu and Kashmir Police, Irrigation and Flood Control, Geology and Mining, Fisheries and the State Disaster Response Force to tackle the emerging situation.
The efforts that were made by the district administration to divert the water from a sinkhole in a Brengi stream, one of the major tributaries of River Jehlum in south Kashmir's Anantnag district, have failed till now.
A senior official, however, said that district administration of Anantnag was on the job. "The Irrigation people are trying to divert the stream while experts have been asked to make survey," said a senior official on the condition of anonymity.
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