Waiting for another flood?
Poor planning is causing human suffering and loss of precious resources. If the monsoon showers have brought relief from the unrelenting summers it has also exposed once again, the country’s inability to deal with this yearly bounty.
According to earth scientist Shakil Romshoo a rainfall for just two days will cause floods in Kashmir. It won’t require rainfall for a continuous week today to have another flood as just 2 days raining is enough to submerge the whole Kashmir forcing the govt to ring alarm bells.
As earlier this year government declared flood twice when roaring Jhelum breached and embankment at several places along its course from Islamabad to Baramulla. Now how situation will turn if there is more rainfall in the coming months like august September and October. As Kashmir has recorded rainfall in these months too and that is worrying given the minimal preparedness on the ground. As far as preparedness is concern to tackle flood like situation nothing has changed in the past nine months after the last years deluge. Infact the danger has grown since Jhelum and its flood spill channels and other water bodies have got silted up.
Besides the dredging of Jhelum at some troublesome spots and refilling of patches of its embankment which were washed by the flood, the flood control department hasn’t done anything reassuring post September deluge.
The state government has failed to convince New Delhi to fund Rs.18000 crore and almost Rs.400 crore for flood management programs for the valley which is highly vulnerable to floods. Spanning over 175 canals Jhelum originates from south Kashmir and after passing through Srinagar it flows into wullur lake before entering Pakistan Administered Kashmir through Baramulla district.
The situation is same in the rest of India like Mumbai, Dehli, Assam etc. Mumbai is already waist deep in water. In Mumbai heavy and continuous rains have led to water logging which has affected the city”s lifeline, the local train service. The Delhi municipal corporation have apparently spent Rs.240 crore to desilt Dehli’s 7000 drains, but the real test for Delhi government will be in coming monsoon days.
According to the Assam state disaster management authority more than 19000 people have been affected in five districts and over 1600 hectares of crops are under water, much more danger is expected in the coming days since the water level of the Brahmaputra and its tributaries are on the rise.
With climate change becoming a reality, monsoon deluges and flooding will become recurrent challenges. According to the intergovernmental panel on climate changes [IPCC] the Indian subcontinent may see longer rainy seasons in the second half of the century. Disasters have other dimensions also. Migration and putting poor people back in to the poverty cycle due to loss of properties. So a stitch in time can save precious lives and property.
For J&K the threat is looming large with every passing day. The Govt of India says that they would outsource the dredging of Jhelum and its tributaries including flood channels to expedite flood management work in view of looming flood threat in Kashmir, but government continues to remain silent on fate of flood management programs.
Only dredging of Jhelum and strengthening of embankments won’t address the problem. The need of the hour is a policy on flood management for the next 50 years and its faster implementation.
muntazirmuzamil@gmail.com
