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| Had Sheikh Abdullah acted in 1975, Kashmir would have been saved from 2014 floods | | | Peerzada Ummer
ET Report
srinagar, Apr 6: Had former Chief Minister of J&K Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah acted upon repeated warnings by the Central Flood Committee (CFC) in 1975, Kashmir would not have been prone to devastating floods.
A letter shot in August 1975 by the CFC to Sheikh had warned him of devastating floods that would occur in the Valley anytime in future and and suggested measures to tackle the same. Sheikh, however, ignored the warnings of experts.
Early Times is in possession of the letter that was sent to Sheikh on August 12, 1975. The letter mentions in detail the ground research conducted by a team of engineers about flood-prone areas and suggested necessary measures to tackle the crisis.
Emphasizing the need for saving Srinagar from nature's fury, the letter clearly mentions that if concrete steps are not taken at an earliest, the capital city would be the first target of floods in the Valley.
Drafted among others by Valley's renowned academician late Professor Ghulam Qadir Bhat who also acted as the chairman of the CFC, the letter mentions that floods in future could be controlled by construction of supplementary channel from Anantnag up to Padshahi Bagh in Srinagar.
The experts mentioned in the letter that the span of the flood channel may be widened and its bed may be deepened enough so that the volume of flood waters beyond the capacity of the Jhelum may flow through it.
The letter also intimated the government about the interim arrangements it should make for controlling floods. "Protection of the area beside or at little distance from the Jhelum from Pampore up to Padshahi Bagh by raising a part of Lasjan bund and by constructing a new bund. Protection of the entire area from Nowgam bund which is hardly one third of the area encircling Lasjan and by relaxing the bund only as there are possibilities of the safety due to its favorable location. The village at nallah Nowgam bund or Kursu Padshahi Bagh, Char Gund, Gund Chnadal, Nowgam, Methan, Naik Bagh, Chanapora, Natipora, Khar Bagh and Ram Bagh. The new housing colonies of Natipora and Chanapora and besides the left bund of the flood spinal channel also fall in the said areas. Moreover the area will provide the space for balanced expansion of the Srinagar city for years to come."
The CFC also recommended that the Nowgam road leaving to Kanihama may be raised to serve as road and the embankment for the basin at the most. It said the village nearing Kandizal and located at higher altitude on the other side of the basin needs protection with marginal bunds wherever necessary as they cannot escape from the flood water pounding in the basin from Kandizal.
"The nambals under plantation are to be reserved for the basin and also the areas of other villages which are unavoidably essential for the basin due to their proximity to Kandizal. Compensation may be paid more or less to the people whose agricultural crops falling within the basin will be damaged by the floods henceforth as they have also right to live like others lawful citizens.
"Another outlet may be constructed from the basin upto the Jehlum in view of the another distance from the basin upto the river, land involvement technical and other cost consideration," the CFC recommended.
"The warnings and recommendations of the experts were, however, completely ignored, which cost Kashmir dearly 30 years later in 2014," said CFC chairman Prof Bhat's grandson Ovais Qayoom.
Ovais said that during the September's ravaging floods, he somehow managed to safeguard the vital documents including the 1975 letter in his residence that too got submerged in the flood waters. |
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