The slow pace of flood control in Jammu and Kashmir has irked the Central government which has asked the Mehbooba Mufti government to speed up preventive measures. While the deteriorating law and order situation in the Valley is already giving a headache to the Union home ministry with continuing attacks on security forces and a volatile Indo-Pak border, the impending threat from a possible flood situation with flash floods and an overflowing Jhelum hitting the state anytime is proving to be another cause for worry.
Every time the Jhelum river crosses the flood declaration level, there is panic both in the state and central government. When home minister Rajnath Singh called a meeting of 15 central ministries earlier this week asking them to fast track developmental measures, the issue of flood control was taken up. The Union home ministry has been assisting the state government in rescue and evacuation measures every time there is a crisis due to flooding of its river. At the meeting, the ministry was unhappy when it discovered the slow pace of work in flood control measures so far.
"For many of the projects which deal with flood mitigation and comprehensive river management, which essentially focus on devising management and control measures to tackle floods, only the detailed project reports (DPRs) have been prepared. The home minister has asked the authorities concerned to execute these projects immediately," a senior home ministry official told THE WEEK. "We cannot wait for another flood to wake us up from the slumber. We need to be prepared before the next flood threat hits us," the official said.
The home ministry along with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) have been undertaking relief and rescue operations on a war footing every time flash floods have hit JK. They have also rendered assistance, both financial assistance and manpower, to help the state government. But central disaster management authorities insist that basic infrastructure at the level of the state government and local authorities have to be in place to handle such situations.
