Over Rs 487 crore spent on flood management in Kashmir since 2014: Govt

Jammu, Feb 20: The Jammu & Kashmir government on Friday said that over Rs 487 crore has been spent on flood management works in Kashmir Valley since the devastating 2014 floods, with major projects under the Prime Minister’s Development Package (PMDP) nearing completion.
Replying to an unstarred question tabled by MLA Pirzada Farooq Ahmad Shah in the Assembly, the Minister Incharge, Jal Shakti Department, said that a three-member core group was constituted by the Ministry of Water Resources (MoWR), RD&GR on September 18, 2014 to prepare a roadmap for flood management of the Kashmir Valley.
The recommendations were categorised into Immediate, Short-term and Long-term measures.
Under Immediate Measures, the department restored 4,555 breaches and vulnerable spots — including 3,320 temporary and 1,235 permanent spots — using funds from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and other sources following the September 2014 floods.
Under short-term measures, aimed at mitigating a flood threat of 60,000 cusecs at Sangam, the government submitted a draft plan titled “Comprehensive Flood Management of River Jhelum & its tributaries” amounting to Rs 2,083.90 crore in 2009-10. The proposal was sanctioned under PMDP in 2015.
The DPRs were framed in two parts as per CWC instructions.
PMDP Phase-I, costing Rs 399.29 crore, was implemented from 2015-16 and stands substantially completed. The safe flood carrying capacity of River Jhelum in Srinagar has been enhanced from 31,800 cusecs to 41,000 cusecs — an increase of 22 per cent.
Major bottlenecks in the Flood Spill Channel (FSC) were removed at Shariefabad and Naidkhai, and the carrying capacity at the offtake of FSC was doubled from 4,000 to 8,700 cusecs. The total expenditure incurred under Phase-I stands at ₹327.04 crore (Central Assistance: Rs 223.96 crore; UT share: Rs 103.08 crore).
Under PMDP Phase-II (Part A), costing Rs 1,623.43 crore, approval was accorded by MoWR, RD&GR in March 2022. Against the project, 31 bank protection and anti-erosion works worth Rs 276.61 crore are under execution, out of which 16 works have been completed.
Two regulatory gates in Hokersar Wetland have also been completed and commissioned at a cost of Rs 28.45 crore. The total expenditure incurred under Phase-II so far is Rs 160.563 crore.
The government further informed that under Phase-I, the GoI share was Rs 234.44 crore while the UT share was Rs 164.85 crore. Funds released amounted to Rs 328.02 crore (GoI: Rs 224.22 crore; UT: Rs 103.80 crore).
Under Phase-II, the GoI share is Rs 1,303.06 crore, and the UT share is Rs 320.37 crore. Funds released so far stand at Rs 220.97 crore (GoI: Rs 174.705 crore; UT: Rs 46.27 crore).
In reply to another query regarding expenditure incurred since April 2025, the Minister said that while no fresh expenditure has been booked, work-done claims amounting to Rs 70 crore are under process for payment following the recent release of Rs 60.4125 crore as the GoI share.
The Minister said that the flood management programme is aimed at strengthening embankments, increasing the carrying capacity of rivers and mitigating flood risks across the Kashmir Valley. (KNO)