Jammu Kashmir CAG Delegation Meets RDD Director, Seeks Urgent Desilting of Kralpur Canal in Chadoora

SRINAGAR: A delegation of the Jammu and Kashmir Climate Action Group (JKCAG) and Alamdar Welfare Society Gopalpora on Monday met the Director of Rural Development Department (RDD) Kashmir, Shabir Hussain Bhat, at his Srinagar office to raise concerns over the deteriorating condition of a major irrigation canal in Chadoora area of Budgam district.

Led by Dr Raja Muzaffar Bhat, Abdul Rashid Baba and Abdul Rashid Wagay, the delegation sought immediate desilting and restoration of the 13-kilometre-long Kralpur Kul, a vital irrigation channel that serves several villages in the area.

“A major irrigation canal known locally as Kralpur Kul requires urgent desilting from Wathoora Sheikhpora to Mochwa. While some work has been initiated in Kralpora and Dharambugh areas under BK Pora block, the Sheikhpora Wathoora, Zolwa and Gopalpora stretches remain heavily choked with silt, muck, and solid waste,” Dr Raja Muzaffar said after the meeting.

He said the canal irrigates nearly 7,000 kanals of agricultural land but has suffered neglect due to a lack of funds with the Irrigation Department. “We requested Director RDD to take up the matter on priority. The officer was kind enough to agree to this public demand and assured us that the desilting work will begin soon before the onset of winter,” he added.

The Kralpur Kul, along with two other smaller irrigation canals — Masar Kul and Doyan Kul — was recently damaged during the September floods. According to the JKCAG, illegal riverbed mining had weakened the embankments of the Doodh Ganga stream, leading to breaches that disrupted water supply to large tracts of farmland.

The JKCAG and Alamdar Welfare Society have appealed to the Deputy Commissioner Budgam and the Chief Engineer, Irrigation and Flood Control Department, Kashmir, to construct iron or cement-concrete flumes around the Doodh Ganga stream in Chadoora to ensure an uninterrupted water supply from March onwards.

“If the flumes are not constructed in the next two to three months, paddy cultivation on nearly 5,000 kanals of agricultural land will be severely affected next year,” Dr Raja Muzaffar cautioned.