Jammu & Kashmir has lost 315 lakes since 1967

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir has lost nearly 3,000ha of lakes since 1967. The decline contributed to the devastating 2014 Kashmir floods, states a Comptroller and Auditor General of India report.

In 1967, Jammu had 367 lakes and Kashmir 330. But by 2020, as many as 259 lakes had disappeared in Jammu, accounting for a loss of 297ha. The report tabled in the J&K legislative assembly last week states, Kashmir lost 56 lakes by 2014, and its loss was far greater in area, at 1,537 ha.

Overall, J&K lost 315 lakes, nearly 45% of those recorded in 1967. Worse, the area of the remaining lakes shrunk by 1,314ha.

State- and national-level researches link changing land use of lake areas to increase in flood risks. “The disappearance and shrinkage of lakes have degraded ecosystems, disrupted water and nutrient cycles, and heightened climate vulnerability,” the CAG report states.

Lakes act as natural flood buffers. In 2014, Kashmir witnessed devastating floods that completely submerged Srinagar, forcing the then CM Omar Abdullah to function from Hari Niwas, a palace of Maharaja Hari Singh at the foothills of Zabarwan mountains.

A ministry of home report on the 2014 floods, released on 2023, said the carrying capacity of Jhelum in Srinagar is 35,000 cusecs, but on Sept 6, the discharge surged to 135,000 cusecs.

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