Gurmath Lotos
The Phuktal River blockage finally burst out at morning around 8:00 A.M on 7th Thursday, May 2015. According to eyewitness the power of water flow was so strong and dreadful it washed away chunk of agriculture land, dozens of bridges, schools and couple of motorable roads, and more than 10 houses and so on.The flash flood spread out fear in the villages downstream and it badly affected more than 3,000 population. Fortunately there has not been reported of human casualties.
The Phuktal is located 40 kilometers away from its headquarters Padum, Zanskar Sub-Division in Kargil District. Due to heavy snow fall the motorable road and walking path get blocked during the winter. It was brutal winter in December 2014 and the Phuktal River blocked abruptly and few days later the local people came to know, who live surrounding the river that the chunk of hill or land collapsed, which blocked the river. At the beginning water level was very low due to minus 40 degree Celsius and was frozen so there was no danger but it can damage when it starts melting.
The news of Phuktal river blockade spread out on social media particularly on Facebook, the people of Zanskar especially student communities raised the issue and demonstrated. The people of the valley demanded early intervention of both State and Central Government before it was late. After series of request and protest, the State Government held chain of meetings to take a decision whether to send a disaster management expert or not but finally Central Government sent a Join Task Force composed of NDMA, CWC and Indian Army to the Phuktal River blockade to drain out the accumulated water, which already became a huge landslide dam or artificial lake.
What the NDMA has done is, dug two meter a narrow channel near artificial lake to drain out river water. The excavated canal was not sufficient to flow two months accumulated water the operation took place only for three days 13th to 16th March 2015 and also installed the Automatic Water Level Recorder(AWLR) at Phuktal Monastery to measure the level of river water. The team of experts submitted the report to concerned authority. The progress of task was reviewed by National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) headed by Union Cabinet Secretary Ajit Sethi. They warned the people that water level can be increased due to release of water but there is no need to panic. The innocent people of Ladakh were betrayed.
Today consequences are in our hand, which shares negligence of State Government. Has the State Government intervened the process of blockage early, we would not have to face huge damage, it is ultimately loss of State Government. And now the important is that both the State and Central Governments should immediately release the compensation. The damaged bridges and roads be rebuild and reconstructed quickly so the people of valley can lead normal life.
The disaster could be prevented and managed well. It is believed that it is biggest devastation in the history of Zanskar valley by flash floods. The need of the hour is to evacuate the affected villages to safer places and rehabilitate them as soon possible.
(The author is Research Student at University of Delhi)
