Srinagar: Despite repeated flood scares in the Kashmir Valley over the past few years, no dredging has been carried out in the River Jhelum or its flood spill channels since March 2020, according to a recent reply by the Irrigation and Flood Control (I\&FC) Department to a Right to Information (RTI) application.

The RTI response, accessed by KNO, has raised serious concerns over the delay in the implementation of the Comprehensive Flood Management Plan (CFMP), sanctioned under the Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP) in 2015 following the devastating 2014 floods. Even a decade later, the plan remains only 80 per cent complete, despite the urgent need for flood mitigation measures in the region.

The Rs 399 crore Phase-I of the CFMP was launched to improve Jhelum’s discharge capacity and safeguard urban and rural areas from future floods. However, out of 31 projects tendered under this phase, only 16 have been completed so far, while the remaining 15 are still under execution. The department confirmed that Rs 114.29 crore received as central assistance has already been fully utilised.

While no dredging has taken place in the last five years, the department stated that desilting of 670 kilometres of irrigation canals was undertaken during the 2023–24 fiscal year, with 2.90 lakh cubic metres of silt removed. The desilting for the ongoing year (2024–25) is in progress, though the final data is yet to be compiled. However, hydrology experts have asserted that canal desilting is not a substitute for full-scale dredging of the River Jhelum, which remains the Valley’s main drainage channel during high-intensity rainfall.

The RTI documents further reveal alarming figures on illegal encroachments along the River Jhelum and its flood spill channels. According to official data, 1,884 encroachments were identified in various divisions, including Srinagar, Baramulla, Anantnag, and Kupwara. These include 283 permanent and semi-permanent structures, 1,233 illegal boundary walls, and 215 trees planted on embankments.

Despite repeated directives, only two boundary walls and 200 trees have been removed so far, suggesting a lack of serious enforcement. Officials maintain that encroachment removal is an “ongoing process,” but the ground reality reflects continued inaction, particularly in high-risk and urban zones.

Flood spill channels and canals in districts such as Sopore, Pulwama, Bandipora, and Shopian also remain encroached, compromising their ability to manage excess water during peak rainfall events.

The department has also admitted that from March 2020 to March 2025, not a single kilometre of the River Jhelum or its major tributaries has been dredged. This, despite the 2018 recommendations by the Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), which had stressed the urgent need for dredging along the Sangam-Asham stretch of the river to mitigate flooding risks.

The dredging work earlier carried out by M/s Reach Dredgers, Kolkata, was marked as completed. However, no fresh tenders have been floated since 2020, pointing to a complete halt in capital dredging works.

Most significantly, the RTI reply confirms that the department has not submitted any new Detailed Project Report (DPR) to the government for flood mitigation in recent years. The Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project (JTFRP) has conducted a fresh flood study for the Jhelum basin, and while a new DPR is reportedly being prepared, it has not yet been formally submitted for approval.

Flood management experts have expressed concern over the “start-stop” nature of the government’s response. “There is a glaring disconnect between the urgency of the flood threat and the pace of official action,” said one official who wished to remain anonymous.

With the monsoon season underway and the memory of the 2014 deluge still fresh in the public mind, the lack of substantive action on both dredging and encroachment removal continues to leave Kashmir vulnerable to another flood disaster. (KNO)