After the increase in budgetary allocation to Jal Shakti Department, it is being hoped now that the Jhelum and its tributaries’ Flood Management Phase-II Project is completed in time.
The completion of the project is very important in view of the massive devastation caused by the unprecedented floods in Kashmir in September, 2014. The pending work must start at the earliest and be completed in time also.
As per reports the government has increased budgetary allocation to the Jal Shakti Department by Rs 3191 crore in the Budget 2023-2024 for Jammu and Kashmir. The allocation has been enhanced also for completing some of the crucial projects, including Jhelum Flood Management.
The allocation of Rs 7161 crore has been made under Capital Expenditure for 2023-2024, which is Rs 3191 crore more than the previous year’s budget allocation.
The September, 2014 floods had exposed the lack of seriousness at government level to deal with such a devastating situation. The government machinery was completely taken unawares and so were the people. Kashmir is yet to fully recover from the large scale devastation, caused by the flood.
After the floods, the union government set up a panel to go into the cause of floods and to suggest measures to prevent such calamities in future. Several long-term measures were recommended by the panel.
Those included additional supplementary flood spill channels, creation of storage facilities on tributaries of Jhelum, flood plain zoning, and enhancing the capacity of Wullar lake. Based on the recommendations a multi-pronged strategy was adopted for flood mitigation.
To enhance the carrying capacity of the river Jhelum from the then 31000 cusecs to 60000 cusecs, the action was envisaged in two phases under Prime Minister’s Development Package ( PMDP).
After substantially completing the first phase, the J&K Government had sought funds for the second phase.
Now since the budget allocation has been enhanced with top priority on completion of Jhelum Flood Management Project, there is urgency for the timely completion of such a project to effectively deal with any flood situation in future.