In the winter months, unprecedented drought continues in Kashmir with more than 80 per cent rainfall and snowfall, causing a large risk of drought. Once due to major snowfall and low rainfall in 45 days, snowfall is awaited in the plains of Kashmir Valley since 4 January 2025. Alam is that rivers and waterfalls are drying up, there is a fire in the forest and the temperature of the day is very high. Due to lack of rain and snowfall, it is feared that Kashmir is moving towards drought in 2025.
In Achbal, the 17th century Mughal Garden which used to give drinking water to more than 20 villages has dried up. Fatima Bibi, a 90 -year -old living next to the garden, says, ‘I have never seen such a low water level waterfall during my lifetime. Small outlets of water have dried up with this waterfall and only one outlet is working at this time.
‘Training given to people to collect rain water’
District Development Commissioner of Kupwara Ayushi Sudan said, ‘We are cleaning the canals and waterfalls. Farmers are educating farmers to collect as much rain water as possible to deal with lack of water in the summer months. The dangerous situation can be gauged from the fact that the flow of water in the Verinag waterfall in Anantnag has reduced which is the source of the Jhelum River. The glaciers are retreating and the rivers are drying up and our agriculture and horticulture will be ruined due to reduced snowfall.
Water level of Jhelum reached minus
The Jhelum River passes through its origin through Anantnag, Pulwama, Srinagar, Ganderbal, Bandipora and Baramulla districts between the valley and finally crosses the Line of Control (LoC) and joins the Indus River in Mithnkot, Pakistan, but Jhelum and its tributaries such as Vesos Nala, Rambiyarah, Ferozepora Nala and Poharru Nala are also flowing below the minimum water level due to snow -free winter, which is not good. According to data on ‘Kashmir Flood Monitoring’ by the Department of Irrigation and Flood Control (I&FC), the water level of Jhelum at the confluence of Pulwama has reached minus 1.01 feet, below the low level (RL) of the zero gauge (RL) And in parts of Anantnag, Srinagar, Ganderbal, Bandipora and Baramulla districts, the entire agriculture and gardening is dependent on the Jhelum river, which means that the disaster bell is ringing.
Local resident Abdul Qayum Khan visited his apple garden and said, ‘I am more than 50 years old and I do not remember that I have faced such a situation in terms of water. Lack of water in the coming summer months will affect us even more, whether it is for farming or for drinking.
‘This time farmers will suffer big loss’
Dr. Sameera Qayum, an agricultural scientist at Sher-e-Kashmir Agricultural Science University in Srinagar, says, “This time we are facing the temperature of March and it has changed plants and trees, which is usually in March Is. If there is no decrease in temperature, then flowers will bloom and thus there will be a huge decline in the yield of fruits, which will cause a lot of damage to the farmers. Due to continuous high temperatures, perennial water reserves in the mountains have also started melting.
‘Electricity generation will also be affected’
The Meteorological Office in Srinagar, which has been holding records for more than 120 years, says that during the last 3 months, there has been a drastic decline of 80 percent. Dr. Mukhtar, director of meteorological, said, ‘There is a shortage of rainfall in the autumn from September to November and now we are facing the same shortage from December. However, there may be more snowfall in the next two weeks to meet this deficiency, but not snowfall at the peak of winter means that snowfall will not last long. We will have to face problems in agriculture, horticulture and even power generation.
‘Games closed due to lack of snow’
The ‘Khelo India Gulmarg 2025’ games to be held at Ski Resort in Gulmarg from 22 February had to postpone the game as the resort has very little snow to maintain the winter games. Other tourist places like Sonamarg and Pahalgam are also suffering due to low snowfall in this season, resulting in a drastic decline in the number of tourists.
Environmentalist Aijaz Rasool said, “We are going through a huge change in weather and this weather is a sign of the effect of global warming.”
Historically, floods have been the biggest threat in Kashmir and have caused havoc before, but drought with changing patterns of global weather can now be a new havoc.
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