The 2014 Floods Exposed Srinagar’s Vulnerability. A Proposed Industrial Park Could Make Things Worse

Srinagar: The government of Jammu and Kashmir designated an 11-km corridor from Pantha Chowk to Nowgam, on the outskirts of the capital of the Union Territory, as part of a flood-absorption basin in its Master Plan 2035, in 2019. Just about seven years later, it has decided to build an industrial park in the area.

Environmental groups and the Union Territory’s committee members say the 50-acre land in Nowgam, suburban Srinagar, is not the right location for an industrial park. This is because, as the official record states, the area is part of the city’s flood-control system – a spongy part of the land that can absorb excess water.

Their concerns are elevated by both the sudden change in the government’s plans and memories of the devastating 2014 floods in Srinagar, the first such disaster in recent history. Official figures placed the death toll at 44, while other estimates put the loss of life far higher, at over 460, with a million (10 lakh) people displaced. More than a third of Srinagar city and its surrounding areas were fully submerged.

Flood buffer at the centre of the controversy

“We have no problem with building infrastructure or creating employment opportunities. Our basic argument is it must not mess with the local ecosystem or create ecological risks for the future,” says Athar Parvaiz of the People’s Environmental Council (PEC), which submitted, along with the Nigeen Lake Conservation Organisation (NLCO), another green outfit, a representation to Communist Party of India (Marxist) legislator Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami, who heads the J&K assembly's committee on environment.

Their biggest worry? That the learnings from the horrors of 2014 are being forgotten. They remind that, as per the master plan, no development or construction is permitted in the area where the ‘plug-and-play’ industrial park is proposed.

The J&K Small Scale Industries Development Corporation (SIDCO) is known to have prepared a Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the project.

“No comprehensive environmental impact assessment or scientific hydrological assessment appears to have been undertaken by the government to ascertain the potential consequences of the proposed project,” says Nadeem Qadri, who is an environmental advocate at Jammu and Kashmir High Court.

“Any such activity in the flood basin and ecologically sensitive low-lying areas, without rigorous assessment and compliance with the statutory and planning frameworks, could have serious and potentially irreversible consequences,” he said.

The issue of the industrial park is already pending consideration before the J&K high court, Qadri said. “We will place these issues before the court and seek directions,” he added.

The master plan also calls for the preservation of the natural flood-absorption basin from Lethpora to Lasjan – a low-lying terrain that extends 22 km south of the capital. Not just that, the Jhelum Tawi Flood Recovery Project, launched after the floods, also identified the area where the industrial park is proposed as a “very important flood-absorption basin.”

The city has spent years trying to make its infrastructure more resilient to flooding and waterlogging.

Making Srinagar eco-friendly and resilient is a priority of the Government of India for Kashmir, specifically mentioned in the Srinagar Smart City Mission document, which it approved in 2017. At the same time, fulfilling its development promises is crucial for winning elections as well as boosting employment opportunities, which Kashmir lags behind in.

The latest unemployment figures say the unemployment rate in Kashmir is nearly double the national average at 6.6%, calculated as 66 active job-seekers per 1,000 of the working age population.

Tarigami said the environment committee will examine whether another location could be identified for the project that is suited for such development and does not bear the same risks. He said experts, environmentalists and government officials would be consulted before a report is submitted to the government on this and other proposals.

“People are not against investment or industrial development. Their concern is very specific: this is a flood-prone area, and they fear that opening it up for an industrial park could make it more vulnerable,” he said, adding that the government has not paid sufficient attention to protect the land and the Jhelum river.

“Further encroachment must be stopped, and the existing concerns of the people and environment groups must be addressed,” Tarigami added.

The plug-and-play industrial park proposed in Kashmir is one of 100 such developments proposed under the ‘Bhavya’ scheme of the Union government. The deadline to meet the halfway mark – 50 such parks – in 2032 is fast approaching. The cost of the one proposed in Srinagar is pegged at Rs 104 crore and will cover 50 acres. The scheme’s outlay over this period is roughly Rs 3,600 crore for the country.

“What changed since 2019 that makes intensive development at this location, in that fragile landscape, appropriate,” Parvaiz asks.

“It will be a disaster as this area has been designated a floodplain of Jhelum for centuries; it will lead to a disaster and should be stopped at any cost," says Raja Muzaffar Bhat, who heads the J&K Climate Action group.

When the Srinagar administration bulldozes private homes to restore the natural flow of water, calling many residential areas encroachments into the banks of the Jhelum river, environmentalists say it should not allow construction projects on flood basin itself.

Parvaiz called the 2035 master plan document a very crucial government document which sets the stage for any future development in the city and the larger metropolitan region of Srinagar.

Lessons from the 2014 floods

During the 2014 floods, the most devastated areas were the plains and extended floodplains of the Jhelum and areas near it. These include Nowgam, Lasjan, Soiteng, Padshahi Bagh and Rajbagh – the low-lying areas that remained flooded for weeks at the time. Even now, they face waterlogging during spells of heavy rain.

For this reason, environmental groups are demanding clear evidence that the site where the new industrial park is proposed can withstand the pressure of such a project. Their concerns are exacerbated by the fact that, in July 2026, incessant rains caused massive waterlogging across Srinagar’s Smart City. Viral videos and photos of the flooding called to question the effectiveness of the Union government’s plans for Srinagar.

“There is a need for true modelling and true evidence, not merely assurances that this is a landscape which can withstand such pressure,” Parvaiz said.

A flood basin flagged as a no-construction zone

In any case, the rules forbid construction of this kind along the Pantha Chowk-Nowgam National Highway Bypass corridor. Not only does the 2035 master plan identify the corridor as part of a flood-absorption basin, it also includes the wetlands and floodplains to Srinagar’s south, southwest, west and northwest as flood-retention areas.

The Nowgam Willow Forest is among the wetlands identified that can hold excess water.

In fact, these areas had earlier been designated as zones where industrial and other projects could come up. However, the master plan then included them in the no-construction area specifically due to the environmental concerns.

“If you take away that ‘sponge’ in Nowgam, water pressure will be transferred somewhere else, not limited by project boundaries. It could put the city and its people in danger,” Parvaiz said, while demanding an alternative site for the proposed project.

The assembly committee headed by Tarigami will, for now, take up the concerns raised by locals and environmental experts over the proposed industrial park.

“Environmental concerns cannot be postponed. This is an urgent issue, and the government must respond to the concerns being raised by the people and environmental experts,” he said.

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