SRINAGAR: Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Monday took a tough stance against encroachments, especially in and around water bodies, and said the government would do everything possible to prevent a repeat of 2014-like floods.
“I urge the people to support us in this endeavour as otherwise we may be, God forbid, headed for more ferocious natural disasters than the devastating floods of September 2014,” she said in the Legislative Assembly during Question Hour. Mehbooba intervened while Minister of State Farooq Andrabi was replying to a question regarding flood management raised by MLA Kulgam M Y Tarigami. She said despite a fore-warning by the experts during 2011-12 about looming floods to hit Kashmir, their suggestions and recommendations were ignored which resulted in massive devastation in the Valley in September 2014.
Blaming massive encroachments along the water bodies here for the 2014 floods that claimed 277 lives, Mehbooba said “now we are having encroachments in Dal Lake, we have lost Wullar lake to lakhs of trees and similarly encroachments alongside Jhelum are rampant.” She said that government is in the process of seeking technical and financial help from the Centre to increase the carrying capacity of Wullar lake, river Jhelum and its tributaries including Vaishaw and Rambiara nallahs in Kashmir and river Tawi and Chenab in Jammu. Unfortunately, lakhs of plants which have come up in Wullar will take us years to clear them, she said, adding that “however, we are in consultation with the experts to enhance the capacity of main water bodies and their tributaries.”
“I assure the House that that we are going to clear the encroachments, however it is going to take some time,” she said. She said a flood-management program is also under implementation for river Jhelum under Prime Minister’s development plan. Mehbooba said while there was a massive water crisis looming across the country, Jammu and Kashmir was mulling to adopt a comprehensive plan for rainwater conservation.”We have a proper plan for the rain water conservation and I have discussed the project with the Central government as well,” she said.