Saturday, November 2News and updates from Kashmir

As Farming season arrives, Kashmiri Farmers fear drought due to Sinkhole

Sheikh Nadeem

Mohammed Sultan (67), a resident of the Dehruna area in Anantnag district has been visiting the nearby Nallah every morning for nearly a month in anticipation of water. The river Bringi has run almost dry in the villages following Wandevalgam where a sinkhole developed on the Bringi Nallah on February 11 at around 4 pm.

The sinkhole disrupted the entire flow of the stream. The district administration immediately moved to mitigation measures. They said that concurrent efforts are in progress to understand the scientific cause of the event and possible resolutions were also started.

The vertical sinkhole at the midst of the river bed has halted the flow of the freshwater stream. The sinkhole has been draining in all the run of the stream water and left the entire downstream portion dry, killing fish in large numbers.

“One immediate remedy that was available was to immediately fill the sinkhole and divert the stream, however, given that sinkholes are naturally occurring geological events and pose no immediate danger, it was decided to investigate into the event scientifically and ensure that the intervention is scientifically rational and is not counterproductive,” deputy commissioner, Anantnag, Piyush Singla had said.

He said that four technical teams from the National Institute of Technology, Srinagar, Department of Earth Sciences, Kashmir University, Fisheries Department, and Geology and Mining Department visited the spot and conducted technical tests.

The stream water irrigates thousands of acres of agricultural land in dozens of villages from Sagam to Dailgam, even orchardists spray oil the whole year using water from Bringi.

Both Agriculturalists and Orchardists are in dilemma and fear a droughty situation in the area due to the non-availability of water to irrigate fields and to spray their orchards.

Mohammed Sultan has been a witness to another sinkhole that developed around the same area 27 years ago. “It was smaller in size. But this time, it has happened at a very wrong time, when farmers are in dire need of water,” he said.

Another local farmer Mohammed Akbar Bhat hailing from Palpora said that the last time it was the locals who immediately filled the sinkhole with grass, stones and clay.

“We cannot afford to wait anymore as the farming season as at our doors. The whole year we irrigate our fields with this stream water. We are upset that the stream has no alternative for farmers and orchardists for irrigation for Crop Cultivation,” he added.

The locals appealed to the District administration to take swift steps to solve this problem at the earliest.

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