KOLHAPUR: Nandkumar Vadnere, former principal secretary of state irrigation department and head of panel to study floods in Krishna river basin, on Sunday said the state government must set up a separate department for flood management as floods will be a recurring phenomenon in Maharashtra.
Vadnere, while speaking during a webinar organised by the ‘Centre for Climate Change and Sustainable Studies’ of the Shivaji University Kolhapur, said the year-long management of floods is necessary to ensure that the cities, towns and villages do not get flooded in case of normal rains.
“We need to bring systemic changes to the administrative setup and one of the change should be setting up a separate department for flood management. The dedicated staff and engineers will help in proper coordination with other departments and monitor floods anywhere in the state. The department can also workout rehabilitation models in case extremely heavy rains lead to evacuation,” he said.
“While extremely heavy rains is the major reason for floods, encroachments in the flood zones too need to blamed. The construction regulations needs to be followed strictly in flood zones areas. Ideally, the flood plains should be kept free of encroachments. However, if that is not possible, then there is a need of a law banning construction activities along the river banks,” he added.
Vadnere also said there is no need to worry about accumulation of silt in dams. “Currently, the dams have silt not more than 10%, but in the long run, silt may become a cause of worry. Hence, All activities that cause silt accumulation in the dams should be banned by the government,” he said.
