Srinagar: Nearly 3,000 hectares of lakes have been destroyed in Jammu and Kashmir since 1967. A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India said this decline contributed to the devastating Kashmir floods of 2014.In 1967, there were 367 lakes in Jammu and 330 in Kashmir. But by 2020, 259 lakes in Jammu disappeared, resulting in a loss of 297 hectares. A report presented in the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly last week said that by 2014, 56 lakes in Kashmir had been lost and the loss in terms of area was much higher, i.e. 1,537 hectares.Overall, 315 lakes in Jammu and Kashmir were destroyed, about 45% of which were recorded in 1967. Worse, the area of ​​the remaining lakes decreased by 1,314 hectares.State and national level research links land use changes in lake areas to increased flood risks. “The disappearance and shrinkage of wetlands has degraded ecosystems, disrupted water and nutrient cycles and increased climate vulnerability,” the CAG report said.Lakes act as natural flood barriers. In 2014, Kashmir suffered devastating floods that completely submerged Srinagar, forcing then CM Omar Abdullah to work from Hari Niwas, the palace of Maharaja Hari Singh in the foothills of the Zabarwan mountains.A Home Ministry report on the 2014 floods, released in 2023, said the carrying capacity of the Jhelum in Srinagar was 35,000 cusecs, but on September 6 the discharge increased to 135,000 cusecs.