Traditional ponds in state drying up rapidly

Sumit Hakhoo

Tribune News Service

Jammu, July 4

Unscientific conservation methods being adopted by government agencies to save the water bodies in the state are leaving thousands of ponds on the verge of extinction.

A majority of the ponds are drying up after the repair and cleaning process carried out by the agencies, which defeats the very idea of various government-funded schemes that include works taken up under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act to safeguard the water bodies spread across different districts of the state.

Environmentalists say ponds retain water due to the accumulation of clay and layer of dead moss at the bottom, formed over the centuries, but the government uses earth-moving machines to dig the surface and excavate soil. This destroys the natural ability of the ponds to retain water even during monsoon, they added.

In urban centres and towns, the encroachment of catchment areas by land mafia and construction of residential and commercial complexes is cutting off the natural process of recharge during monsoon, turning these ‘reclaimed ponds’ into a dry patch of land.

Across the Jammu region, especially in southern districts and Kandi belt of the state, traditional ponds once played an important role in maintaining the water table but the approach of the locals and the administration has led to the drying up of these water bodies.

“The government is spending crores on the beautification and conservation ponds but these projects apparently have hampered the basic function of these bodies i.e. to store water. Moreover, the authorities treat ponds as drains and are just bothered about the cleaning process,” said Bushan Parimoo, president, Environmental Awareness Forum.

Once an important part of life in Jammu, these traditional ponds have been wiped out after the expansion of urban population since 1990 and the introduction of piped water for residential colonies. Moreover, most of the ponds have turned into garbage dumping sites.

When contacted, Kushal Chand, Joint Commissioner (Works), Jammu Municipal Corporation, failed to give a satisfactory reply. “We have taken up several steps to save the ponds. Let me check if there is any problem in our approach,” Chand said.