Jahangeer Ganaie
Srinagar, Feb 1: The project worth Rs 340 crore under phase-2 flood mitigation plan has been tendered out on which work is expected to start soon.
A top official of Irrigation and Flood Control department of Kashmir, wishing not to be named, said that phase-1 of comprehensive flood mitigation plan has almost completed while work on phase 2 is expected to start soon.
“The main work in the phase 2 will be flood spill channel for re-sectioning so that if there will be more water coming, then it will go through these channels,” he said, adding that part of it is to work on Hokarsar.
He said that resectioning of the flood spill channel which includes taking channel width from 20-80 metre with constant slope from Padshahi Bagh to Wullar costing around Rs 239 crore has been tendered out and efforts are on to rope in competitive national agencies for dredging.
He added that the main purpose of the work that has been started at Hokarsar is to keep wetland wet so that migratory birds coming there can live without any hindrances, but that is also part of the phase- 2 of flood mitigation plan.
He said that the gate at the Wular has 80 m width while Chanell there is just 30 m wide which has to be taken to 80 m.
He said that crate projection and other works on 21 major tributaries of Jhelum have been tendered out as well under 13 Irrigation divisions of Kashmir on which work is also expected to start soon.
He said that as tendering is in the last stage and they expect to start the work soon
“With the completion of phase 1 the capacity of river Jhelum will go to 60,000 cusecs, which has been already taken to 40,000 in the phase 1.
He said that the deadline to complete the phase 2 is three years and hopefully it will be completed in three years time.
Notably, Flood Management Plan was divided into two phases, phase 1 was funded under the Prime Minister’s Development Package with a budget of Rs 399 crore, which included spot dredging as per requirement to increase the capacity of river Jhelum so as to minimize the damage if there will be floods again.
Soon after floods in 2014, the government of India had constituted a committee to suggest measures to prevent such calamities in the future.
The committee in its report had recommended several long term measures including additional supplementary flood spill channel, creation of storage facilities on tributaries of Jhelum, flood plain zoning and enhancing capacity of Wular Lake.
