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Mohammad Ashraf Bulaki and his neighbours were sitting outside their houses at Zinipora near Pampore town around 2.15 am on September 4, 2025, when they heard a noise just 70 to 80 metres away. They ran towards the sound and found water gushing out from a damaged embankment on the Jhelum river.
“For last two days, we have been alert during the night due to fear the Jhelum might breach, as we live just adjacent to it. We don’t know whether the embankment breached on its own or it was a human-made breach by authorities to save Srinagar city, which is around 11 kilometres (km) downstream. In the past, the authorities would make a breach around Kandizal which is around four km upstream from our village. Hundreds of people around that area had assembled at Kandizal already and that is the reason the authorities couldn’t rupture the Jhelum embankment there. The breach around Zinipora might have happened on its own too because the Jhelum had crossed the danger mark on September 3 at 8pm,” Bulaki told Down to Earth (DTE).
By 8 am on September 4, the entire area was inundated. All the 300 houses in Zinipora, located around 12 km from Srinagar city, had submerged. Zinipora is located near Pampore in Pulwama district but falls under the territorial jurisdiction of Budgam district. By afternoon, the water level came down an inch or so. But by this time, the flood water had started going towards other localities like Rakh Shalina and Tengan villages of Budgam district on the outskirts of Srinagar. When this reporter visited Tengan, two km away from Zinipora on its west, the water had already gone into the village, and the level was rising up (at 2pm).
“The standing paddy crop in our village had already been submerged due to rainfall for the last few days and now the flood water will completely destroy this crop which was to be harvested in a few weeks. Paddy cultivation is our main source of income and authorities must compensate us adequately. An independent inquiry should also be conducted as to how the breach took place in the Jhelum embankment at Zinipora,” said Ashiq Hussain, a local resident of Tengan.
Other villages like Pohru, Check Pohru, Kenihama, Lasjan, Soiteng, Golpora, Summerbug and Nowgam, located around the National Highway 44 that connects Jammu and Srinagar, were expected to get flooded by September 4 night. These are the main paddy growing areas of Budgam district and the entire crop is expected to get submerged in a day or so.
Eleven years after Srinagar itself was flooded by the rising Jhelum, the city’s residents were fully prepared to face another deluge on the intervening night of September 3 and 4 as water levels in the Jhelum crossed the danger mark at multiple places. People were waiting to see where the Jhelum would burst its banks. The residents of posh Rajbagh, Jawahar Nagar and its adjoining areas had already emptied their rooms on the ground floor and shifted everything to the first floor.
“In 2014, the Jhelum had risen and there was a breach near Kursoo Rajbagh & Shivpora areas of Srinagar city and that flooded the entire city including Lal Chowk, Civil Secretariat, Jammu and Kashmir High Court and all-important locations. But this time, Srinagar has been saved. However, the damage caused in Zinipora, Tengan, Rakh Shalina and Pohru is immense and needs to be compensated,” said Fayaz Ahmad, a resident of Rajbagh Srinagar
After the September 2014 floods in Kashmir, the Central Water Commission (CWC), on the instruction of the Prime Minister, was asked to conduct a detailed study on floods in Jammu and Kashmir and how to overcome them with an action plan. The Chairperson of the CWC, Commissioner Indus and the Director of the National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, recommended immediate, short-term and long-term measures for flood mitigation in the Jhelum and its tributaries. Hundreds of crores were provided to the Jammu and Kashmir government from 2015 onwards for flood mitigation. The works under these projects are still in operation but experts and local residents say that positive results are not felt on the ground.
“Kashmir was flooded when there was a massive spell of rain from September 3-8 in 2014. But this time, it rained just for one day and again, we have places other than Srinagar city inundated. We have lost thousands of hectares of paddy and other crops. Houses are flooded and Jhelum water has entered residential houses on the outskirts of Srinagar in Budgam district. Anantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopian districts are also impacted. Where has the money that came to Jammu and Kashmir post the 2014 floods gone?” asked Farooq Kuthoo, executive member, Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry or KCCI.
Pertinently, Rs 399 crore was provided to the Jammu and Kashmir government to clear major bottlenecks in the Jhelum river, along with a 48-km-long Flood Spill Channel. This channel was constructed by the Dogra rulers of the erstwhile princely state of Jammu and Kashmir around 120 years ago.
The Rs 399 crore amount was aimed at providing relief from low intensity to moderate floods in the future. A detailed project report was approved by the Government of India through the CWC under the Priority Works – Comprehensive Plan for Flood Management Works on Jhelum – Phase-I. This was approved in the year 2015-16 and was funded under the Prime Minister’s Development Programme or PMDP.
“Under flood management projects post the 2014 floods, the carrying capacity of the Jhelum was to be enhanced by 60,000 cusecs at Sangam in South Kashmir and 61,000 cusecs at Tarzoo Ninglee in North Kashmir’s Sopore area. In addition, massive dredging was to be done in the Flood Spill Channel. But on the ground, there is massive growth of weeds and plants in this channel. Moreover, this has become a dumping ground for waste and other things. We demand a probe into why the funds meant for flood mitigation haven’t materialised into on-ground implementation. The outskirts of Srinagar flooded after just 10-11 hrs of rainfall,” said Faiz Bakshi, convenor of Srinagar-based Environmental Policy Group or EPG.
The inundation on September 3 caused flooding in the Doodh Ganga and Shaliganga streams in Budgam, which are the tributaries of the Jhelum. The illegal sand and gravel mining has devastated these streams and their embankments are weak. This caused lots of landslides and flooded Dangerpora Wathoora, where around 32 houses were waterlogged.
“How much funds were spent on flood mitigation of Doodh Ganga and Shaliganga streams post-2014? If these small streams get flooded within a few hours of rainfall, can we say the flood mitigation has actually been done,” questioned Sajad Ahmad, a local resident of Dangerpora Wathoora.