Srinagar: The Environmental Policy Group (EPG) has expressed deep concern over the recent cloudbursts, flash floods, and widespread devastation in Jammu & Kashmir, stressing that the disasters are more man-made than natural. Mourning the loss of lives and damage to property, agriculture, and businesses—especially in Chishoti and Vaishnodevi—the Group said that the Valley remains dangerously vulnerable even to moderate spells of rainfall, with the River Jhelum already entering the flood declaration zone.
EPG, which has been raising alarm over flood risks for more than a decade, recalled that the catastrophic 2014 floods had exposed Kashmir’s fragile ecosystem and governance failures. Despite repeated warnings and judicial directions, the Group said little has been done to restore the Jhelum’s carrying capacity or revive wetlands that once served as natural flood buffers.
The Group has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), EPG vs Union of India & Others, involving 16 government departments, urging meaningful remedial measures. It expressed dismay that successive governments have treated floods as temporary crises, with dredging projects, embankment repairs, and drainage improvements either abandoned midway or left pending before agencies such as the Anti-Corruption Bureau.
“The present vulnerability is not the result of natural forces alone but of decades of human-induced degradation,” EPG observed, citing illegal felling of trees, encroachments on wetlands and riverbanks, and unchecked urbanisation as primary reasons for the crisis. It noted that Wular Lake has lost nearly one-third of its flood absorption capacity due to siltation, while wetlands such as Hokersar, Shallabugh, Mirgund, and Narakara continue to shrink under encroachments and waste dumping.
The Group underlined that the most urgent task is scientific dredging of the Jhelum, backed by satellite imaging and sediment flow studies. It called for comprehensive flood management, including revival of the neglected flood spill channel, strengthening of embankments, restoration of wetlands and lakes, and catchment area management through afforestation and soil conservation.
“Floods are remembered only when the waters rise. Once the rains pass, the urgency disappears. This cycle of negligence must end if Kashmir is to be saved from another calamity,” the Group warned.
EPG urged the government to expedite the Flood Recovery and Prevention Vision Plan, approve the pending Detailed Project Report (DPR), and institutionalise satellite-based monitoring of wetlands and river systems for accountability. It stressed that flood management must be placed on par with major developmental priorities, given its direct link to lives, livelihoods, and the region’s economy.
“The Valley cannot afford another 2014,” the Group cautioned, emphasising that safeguarding the Jhelum basin and reviving wetlands is not only an environmental obligation but an existential necessity for Kashmir.
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