Environmentalists call for flood management plan targeting Valley

With the Valley witnessing flood-like situation after three days of rain, environmentalists are calling for a comprehensive flood management plan for Jammu and Kashmir.

The authorities had to evacuate thousands of people from low-lying areas in Kashmir after a breach in an embankment along the Jhelum on the outskirts of Srinagar, with gushing water entering houses. Not only this, streams showed an alarming rise in the water level, triggering panic across Kashmir. The Valley last saw devastating floods in 2014.

Kashmir-based Environmental Policy Group (EPG) said recent floods were more alarming than the 2014 as the “river rose very rapidly”.

“Any allocation, sale, transfer of land and/or construction of buildings should be banned in all areas within 500 metres of wetlands,” the EPG said. Faiz Bakshi, convenor of the EPG, who underscored the absence of a “coherent government policy”, said, “We do not have any other viable and practical solution.”

He said small storages must be created in every basin and sub-basin and used to moderate the flow.

“These mini dams can, in fact, be paired with solar power to construct hybrid pumped storage systems. Therein lies the answer to our two main woes — flood and power — in that order,” said Bakshi.

He said that Kashmir valley had a huge flood absorption in Wular. “It can absorb large volumes of water and release them over a period of time,” he said.

Srinagar based Peoples’ Environmental Council (PEC), which focuses on environmental issues, last month wrote to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on flood prevention. The PEC recommended several measures, including institutionalised community-government collaboration, restoration of wetlands and floodplains, restore natural water flow and build a climate-resilient sponge city.

A senior environmental activist said a lot of efforts were needed to avert the situation that emerged this month in the Valley.

“The government should sit with experts and take practical steps to ensure we don’t see floods after one or two day rainfall,” said the activist.

Last week, the CM had said his government would seek answers for the “negligence” that took place since the 2014 floods. He noted, “It seems that 11 years have been wasted by previous governments.”