Fayaz Bukhari
Srinagar, Nov 26: The expert committee on Dal lake today submitted its report on protection and conservation of the lake before the High Court. It said that the lake is victim of human greed.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Sanjeev Kumar after receiving the report of expert committee in a sealed cover opened it in the court and directed Registry to furnish the copy of the report to concerned Advocates so that the matter be considered in view of the report tomorrow.
The Committee raised certain issues which the lake is facing and its solutions amongst the said issues is the importance of lake in the context of topography of area lies in the fact that it has existed as a part of its geo-morphological profile.
With regard to growth of habitation and pollution in and around the lake, committee said, it appeared that no wakeup call has been big, serious or loud enough for the authorities to take its deteriorating condition into consideration and act upon it.
Committee has further mentioned in its report that during the past few years grave concern is being voiced by the people from different walks of life over the deteriorating condition of the lake and there is no denying fact that the lake has fallen victim to human greed, as a result of which entire ecosystem is rapidly changing.
“The water quality of the lake has deteriorated considerably during the last three decades and large area of the lake has been reclaimed and converted into floating gardens and large number of residential buildings, restaurants and hotels have come up along the lake front”, revealed the report.
It has further been mentioned that over the years, the lake has become shallow due to situation and accumulation of plant debris as also many undesirable changes in the structure of the flora and fauna have taken place and some important species have either declined or completely disappeared.
As per the information gathered from State Government, the Committee submitted that the conservation and management of Dal and Nigeen lakes have been a concern of both Central as well as State Governments since 1978.
Committee has also revealed those components which are main polluters and problems of the lake and those, as per the Committee, are Dal dwellers, house boats, floating gardens, existing sewage treatment plants, un-sewered areas, catchment areas and sedimentation of siltation.
It has been estimated that a population of 40000 to 70000 resides in the Dal interiors and the sewage generated including night soil, sullage and solid waste are all released into the lake.
About the house boats, Committee said that 910 house boats and 140 Dunga boats do not have any sewage facility and all waste discharged goes directly into the lake.
About the functioning of STPs, report revealed that 6 existing STPs have the designed capacity to treat 53.8 MLD against this the actual treatment is of 47.8 MLD leaving and utilized capacity of 6 MLD untreated.
It was on September 18, the DB observed that nothing has been achieved despite huge amount spent on restoration of Dal lake. It constituted a three member expert committee of well experienced persons for resolving the issues of the lake and for that Nivideta Dhar, former Home Secretary and M C Metha, a renowned environmentalist of the State and Mangu Singh, CEO Delhi Metro Rail Corporation had been appointed as the members of the Expert Committee.
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