NIT study finds Kokernag sinkhole’s outlet at Achabal

SRINAGAR — Much to the expectations of people, the tracer studies by NIT Srinagar have observed that the sinkhole that emerged in the middle of the river bed at Wandevalgam, Kokernag on February 11 this year that disrupted the entire flow of the stream, has an outlet at Achabal.

Achabal is around 16 kilometres away from the sinkhole. Deputy Commissioner Anantnag, Dr Piyush Singla, said that there could be other outlets in nearby areas.

“#KokernagSinkhole at Wandevalgam – Tracer studies by NIT Sgr observed-‘Sinkhole has an outlet at Achabal at a distance of 16 km from sinkhole. There could be other outlets in nearby areas’. Interesting inference from interesting phenomenon!” Singla tweeted.

As per the news agency Kashmir News Observer (KNO), in the second week of March, the water level in the springs of the famous Achabal Botanical Garden suddenly swelled, triggering panic among the locals.

Locals had apprehensions that sudden water rise in springs might be the water of the sinkhole, however, officials maintained that only expert opinion in this regard can give clear information about it.

Locals had said that they witnessed such a phenomenon in 1995 when there was a sinkhole in the same Brengi stream and its discharge was found at Achabal which, according to locals, was later filled with sand and boulders.

Around 27 years, the same phenomenon has repeated on 11 February this year another sinkhole emerged in the middle of the stream at Wandevalgam in Kokernag, just a few meters away from the earlier hole disrupting the entire flow of the stream.

It took around one month for the disrupted flow of the stream to reach Achabal springs as the water level rose suddenly in Achabal springs in the second week of March.

It is pertinent to mention here that soon after the sinkhole emerged, experts from the Department of the Earth Sciences, the University of Kashmir and the Geology and Mining department had visited the spot and had suggested measures in this regard.

Experts from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Srinagar were also called in to conduct advanced tracer studies and to find the underground water flow who have found now that the sinkhole has an outlet in Achabal.