Disaster on Jhelum Bank

The crumbling of a large stretch of embankment of river Jhelum near Lasjan in Srinagar has again raised the public concern over the government’s ‘half-hearted’ flood mitigation measures. Over 200 meter portion of the embankment caved in along with boundary walls of several houses. The incident happened barely a few days after the legislators had expressed serious concern over the slow dredging of river Jhelum in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. The legislators had rightly demanded the constitution of a House Committee to look into the matter. As has earlier been underlined in these columns, the demand is worth consideration given the massive scale of damage that was caused by the 2014 floods in Kashmir. In the post 2014 floods, a government of India panel had by and large endorsed the concerns expressed time and again by the local experts and ecologists vis-a-vis the fall in the carrying capacity of river Jhelum and its outfall channel. The successive governments have done little to address this issue. From 1986 till very recently no dredging was carried out in the outflow channel resulting into the drastic reduction in its carrying capacity from 17000 cusec to 3531 cusec. Similarly, no effective steps were taken to increase the flow velocity in the 96 kilometre Sangum-Wular mild slope stretch of river Jhelum. It is unfortunate that the state government has adopted an unprofessional approach to plug the breaches of river Jhelum, which has amply been demonstrated by the crumbling of the portion of the embankment at Lasjan.  Government needs to take the issue very seriously and fix the responsibility in the matter. Had such an incident happened during summers when the water level in Jhelum remains high, it could have caused devastation in the area. Democratic dispensations guard the public interest and protect the public trust. If this trust fails, government loses credibility in the eyes of public. Hope this dispensation won’t allow things to come to such a pass.