The Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry has expressed concern over the “abrupt rise” in the water level in the flood channel and the river Jhelum.
Sheikh Ashiq Ahmad, President KCCI stated that it wasappalling to see that a few millimetres of rainfall has caused such an abnormalrise in the water in these water bodies.
“The water disbursal/drainage system appears to be totallychoked,” he said, adding that in view of the heavy snowfall during the wintermonths, “increased water flow in rivers is expected during the summer months”.
“Post 2014 floods, a lot of flood prevention and disastermanagement measures have been announced. These include dredging of riverJhelum, construction of storm drains, increasing the water intake capacity ofWular Lake, etc. But even after the passage of five years, the water absorptioncapacity of our rivers, drainage system and flood channels appears to have beendrastically reduced rather than having increased,” he said.
The president KCCI said the dredging operation seems to be atotal failure as are other short and long terms flood control measures.
“The Government,” he said, “should initiate preventivemeasures on war footing.”
“The wastage of substantial amounts of public money onineffectual measures also needs to be looked into and responsibility fixed.There is an apparent adhocism in planning which has to be corrected before it’stoo late,” the KCCI in a statement said.