Sir,
This has reference to the article . Factors behind flood fury’ Daily Excelsior Sunday Magazine Sep 14 by Dr Nater Singh. He writes that when the quantity of water flow will be greater than the capacity of the particular river, it will over flow the embankments to cause flood. Moreover, during the floods the level of water is much more higher than the surroundings because of raised bed basin of the river. Dr Singh also mentions about average annual sedimentation of 6503300 metric tonnes/year in Tawi basin. The cause that is attributed to this sediments is deforestation, over grazing and excavation of soil for various purposes, which make the soil prone to erosion and is increasing year after year.
It has been observed that Tawi basin has risen by sedimentation upto 3-4 feet for the last forty years. Similarly, the Tawi bed basin at bridge connecting Phallian-Madal has also risen to a considerable height. Even one can touch the bridge overhead by hand while standing under it. The result of sedimentation is clear. It has blown one portion of the bridge.
My main aim to give these examples is just to inform the concerned authorities regarding the proposed construction of Artifcial Lake. It is to be noted that if the Tawi river is depositing such a huge quantity of sedimentation, part of which also flows down stream by current of water. But when the Surya Putri will be blocked completely, the deposition of sedimentation will be to such extent that with in short span its bed at lake site will rise to a level which will be above Gandhi Nagar, Satwari etc. If such type of flood occurs in the coming years, it will definitely pose a great danger to these areas including the Tawi-Island comprising of forty-four village.
So, it is requested to the concerned authorities to reconsider the decision before giving final touch to this proposed project.
Yours etc…
Kundan Lal Bhagat
Kotli Shah Doula
R S Pura, Jammu