SRINAGAR: As Kashmir endures an unusually intense heatwave, the region is facing a deepening water crisis that is now threatening the agricultural season. Farmers in several districts, particularly in the Valley’s rice-growing belt, are reporting withering crops and dry irrigation channels. The worsening situation is compounded by a startling administrative failure: hundreds of engineering posts across key public service departments remain vacant, stalling essential water management and infrastructure projects when they are needed most.
In the rice fields of south and central Kashmir, the absence of irrigation water has become a grim reality. Local farmers say they are watching their paddy saplings die under a harsh sun, with no help in sight. “There’s no water at all. We waited for the departmental response, but no engineers came. We fear the season will be lost,” said a farmer from Anantnag, standing on cracked soil that should have been soaked in canal water by now.
While the government has yet to issue a formal response, public frustration is growing. A legislator from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) raised the alarm publicly on Tuesday, saying that amid a spiralling crisis, the Jammu and Kashmir administration has left hundreds of crucial engineering posts unfilled in departments directly responsible for water supply, irrigation and infrastructure maintenance. In a social media post that quickly gained attention, the MLA said that the Jal Shakti Department, formerly known as Irrigation and Flood Control, is operating with over 220 engineering vacancies. These include ten Chief Engineers, ten Executive Engineers and as many as two hundred Assistant Executive Engineers.
The legislator further highlighted that the Public Works Department is also struggling without key staff, with three Chief Engineers, eleven Superintending Engineers, and thirty-two Executive Engineers yet to be appointed. The Mechanical Engineering Department, responsible for equipment crucial to flood control and water lifting systems, is missing over 380 engineers across ranks, including twenty Executive Engineers and 250 Junior Engineers.
“This is not just a staffing issue. It’s a structural collapse of responsibility at the worst possible time,” the PDP MLA said, while urging Jammu and Kashmir’s Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to personally intervene. The MLA described the government’s inaction as “unfortunate” and accused the administration of sitting on recruitment and promotion files that have remained pending for months, if not years.
Departmental insiders, though unwilling to go on record, admitted that without engineers in place, critical works — from repairing canals and desilting watercourses to restoring disrupted drinking water lines, remain in limbo.
With rivers running low and stream levels continuing to drop, fears are rising that the lack of engineering oversight could turn an already difficult season into a full-scale rural emergency. Experts warn that unless the government acts quickly to fill these vacancies and restore functionality in key departments, Kashmir could face cascading crises, crop failures, drinking water shortages and rising public anger.
So far, the response from the administration has been muted. But with the mercury still rising and farmers increasingly vocal, the pressure is mounting on the government to move swiftly, before the damage becomes irreversible.
