The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has picked up holes in Himachal Pradesh government’s ignorance towards the scientific assessment of flood prone areas in the hill state.

In a report tabled in the HP Assembly (for the year ended on 31 March, 2017), the CAG points out that the authorities in Himachal have not prepared any action plan for execution of flood protection works. The report said out of 2.31 lakh hectares estimated to be flood-prone area, only 25,116.21 hectares or 11 percent could be covered as of March 2017.

“Out of seven flood management projects approved during 2008-13, which were stipulated to complete from March 2012 to 2017, only four were completed. The embankment of 275 km, or 50 per cent, against the target of 548 km was constructed till March, 2017,” it said.

The CAG noted that there was short release of Rs 657.36 Crore by Government of India and Rs 21.25 Crore by the state government under Flood Management Programme projects from 2008-17, resulting in delay of more than 12 to 60 months in execution and completion of the projects.

The hills of HP, especially in Chamba, Kinnaur, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Sirmaur and Una districts, are prone to natural disasters like flash floods, cloudbursts and landslides.

According to official data, a total of 309 people lost their lives and 1,905 livestock perished, besides causing an estimated loss of properties more than Rs 2,385.45 Crore in the past five decades.

To increase preparedness for sudden and unexpected flood-related disasters, the National Water Policy 2012 provides for glacial lake outburst flood and landslide dam break flood studies with periodic monitoring.

The CAG put it on record that these specific studies were not carried out by the state from 2012 to 2017. “This is a wake-up call for authorities as the robust flood forecasting system is a miss in the state,” it said. In order to modernise snow-melt runoff forecasting system, a snow hydrology centre was set up in Shimla in 1984.

However, till March last year the Centre has not conducted flood forecasting. The hill state’s economy is also highly dependent on hydropower generation. The CAG report said emergency action plan (EAP) for all 18 commissioned projects had been prepared.

However, the inundation maps indicating the low-lying area and nearby high-level areas where the affected people could be shifted in case of dam break in respect of two selected Bhakra and Chamera-I dams have been prepared, while the maps of the third selected Larji dam has not been prepared.

The CAG pointed out that the glacial lake outburst flood and landslide dam break floods studies were not undertaken by any of these dams. Auditor recommends formulation of a basin-wise, comprehensive long-term master plan for flood protection works based on scientific assessment and morphological studies of flood prone areas.