Varsity researcher warned about catastrophe in 2010 “It was a natural catastrophe which could not have been prevented. If the government had vision, the flood on September 7, which inundated Srinagar, could have been managed better,” said Dr Shakil Romshoo, head of the Earth Sciences Department at the University of Kashmir. He had warned about the catastrophic floods in a scientific write-up way back in 2010. In his field study, the Jhelum embankment in Srinagar had 22 major breaches from Kandizal to Chattabal, the points of entry and exit, during the floods on September 6 and 7. Apart from the breaches, water overflowed river embankments at dozens of places. “The danger of floods will always lurk over Srinagar as capacity of the river or its discharge capacity is 35,000 cusecs. It reached 1,20,000 cusecs, the highest ever discharge mark, on September 7. Where will the water go? It was destined to flow into the city,” said Romsho. He is preparing a scientific paper on causes of the floods and steps needed to prevent a deluge in the future. The flaw in the project was that it would bring newer areas and villages in Kashmir under the threat of floods in the future if water discharge in the Jhelum exceeded 1,20,000 cusecs. Flood control engineers had been working to plug in major breaches in Jhelum embankments in Srinagar and other areas. Immediate steps like drudging of the Jhelum to desilt it and strengthening embankments on both sides were needed. The only long-term solution to prevent the kind of flooding Srinagar witnessed on September 7 was construction of an additional flood spill channel. This was in addition to desilting and strengthening of embankments of the existing flood spill channel passing through Rajbagh and Rambagh. Then Chief Minister Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad had got it constructed after major floods in 1959. During a press conference on September 29, Chief Secretary Mohammad Iqbal Khandey and Commissioner Secretary of Flood Control Department Pawan Kotwal said the state government hoped that the Centre would approve Rs 2,200-crore project for construction of a second flood spill channel to handle the water discharge in the future. The project was submitted to the Centre in 2007. The project proposed bypassing the Jhelum from Srinagar in case of emergency to prevent inundation. An amount of Rs 97 crore was released by the Centre in 2010. Officials said it was used for dredging the flood channel, which enhanced its capacity by 9,000 cusecs. Since then, the project was not vigorously pursued by successive state governments. Another challenge for the state government was removing encroachment and freeing the plain, which officials had blamed for the floods. Save Srinagar project * To save Srinagar from flooding, the project for construction of a second flood spill channel from Sangam in Anantnag district to the outer periphery of the Wullar Lake in Bandipora district was submitted to the Centre in 2007. * The project proposed bypassing the Jhelum from Srinagar and Rs 97 cr was released by the Centre in 2010. Officials said it was used for dredging the flood channel. Later, the project was not pursued by successive state governments.