‘Save Dal Lake’ initiative on hold as Kashmir’s pride heads to slow death

Arun Joshi

Jammu, August 14

The expanse of the world-famous Dal Lake in Srinagar has shrunk to an alarming extent — it was found in August 2018 to be less than half of its original size — and its waters give out a nauseating stench.

The matter is naturally a cause for distress among residents of Kashmir, who see it as death of heritage as the lake has been part of folklore, besides being a major attraction for tourists.

The Dal is gasping, with its shimmering waters disappearing under the unwanted foliage of weeds that continue to grow unchecked; there is also no check on the pollutants entering the water body.

This continued situation may well be blamed on the lack of action on remedial measures suggested after surveys and assessments during then J&K Governor N.N. Vohra’s tenure. Vohra left the state on August 27, 2018. Virtually no work has been done since he vacated office.

Vohra was alarmed when he inspected the lake on several occasions and voiced his concern over the extraordinary growth of weeds and foliage. Throughout his tenure, Vohra repeatedly asked the coalition governments to take steps to save the lake.

Finally, he took it upon himself to have the lake restored to its glory with the help of the Navy and hydrographers, who undertook surveys, made assessments, and gave suggestions.

Vohra spoke to the then Navy Chief, Admiral Sunil Lamba, on whose suggestion he roped in Vice-Admiral SK Jha (retd), who is a top hydrographer, and Rajesh Tripathi, CMD of Dredging Corporation of India, to undertake benchmark surveys in July 2018.

Tripathi shared his assessment with Vohra and government functionaries at Raj Bhavan, Srinagar, on August 2. He made a shocking revelation that the size of the lake had shrunk from 22 sq km to 10 sq km. The report also stated that the water quality had deteriorated due to “intense pollution caused by untreated sewage and solid wastes that flow into the lake; encroachments of water channels and clogging has diminished the circulation and inflows into the lake, leading to extensive weed growth of jal khumbh (water hyacinth), which has emerged as a health hazard; due to siltation, encroachment, etc, the depth of the lake has reduced at many places, and its total capacity has gone down to 40 per cent; the continuing night soil discharge from the 8/900 house coats is causing extreme pollution.”

Based on this, a five-point approach was planned to address the problems: i) to request Chief of the Indian Navy for help in a comprehensive bathymetric survey of Dal-Nageen lake to establish a benchmark database for deciding the extent of dredging, etc, required; (ii) to hold immediate discussions for appointment of Dredging Corporation of India as the nodal consulting agency to prepare a project report which focus on dredging; (iii) to initiate immediate action for examining the possibility of installing holding tanks and bio-digesters to prevent the discharge of sewage by the houseboats into the lake; (iv) Lake and Waterways Development Authority to commence immediate finalisation of a proposal for installing additional aerators in the lake to raise the dissolved oxygen levels in the stagnant pockets; (v) Vice-Chairman LAWDA to share with CMD, DCI, all information regarding the state government’s recent decision to procure/hire lake-cleaning machines.

However, after Vohra left the state, all movement on this front was halted, and the lake continues its steady journey towards death.