The famous water body called Dal Lake was once the most attractive landmark of the city of Srinagar. Cuddled in the circular lap of Gopadari and Zabarwan hills, the Dal has been a famous invigorating picnic spot for the locals and the visitors from other parts of the country or abroad. Boating, regatta, water lilies (pamposh), ducks, and above all artificial vegetable producing strips of land created around the bank of the lake, are now becoming things of past. The Dal has been abused, molested and disfigured. For two reasons the Dal has lost its purity and grandeur. First land grabbers have illegally and un-aesthetically encroached upon its banks and raised shabby and menacing constructions and dwellings around it. Secondly, innumerable house boats have been floated on the surface of the Dal and turned into tourist accommodation. Where will the human excreta and waste go? House Boats were the innovation of the British but they would ensure that human excreta was not dropped in Dal waters but was manually removed and disposed off. However after the British left and locals became the occupants of the House Boats, they abandoned the practice of manual disposal of humane excreta and easily shifted to depositing it in the waters of the Dal. The result is pollution of Dal Lake and surfacing of weed that is impossible to root out despite enormous money spent by the LAWDA.
Of course the LAWDA and other agencies tried to impose certain rules and regulations to save the Dal from pollution but corruption, nepotism and political interference undermined most of these schemes and the Dal went on deteriorating day after day. It shrank, its water got contaminated, weed disfigured water surface, Dal lost its pristine purity and ultimately turned into a virtual cesspool. During two decades of militancy in Kashmir, Dal had its share of spoliation.
September flood in Kashmir affected the Dal and rising waters damaged or washed away many residential structures that had been illegally raised close to the banks of the lake. In a PIL pending before the High Court, the court order has come that no construction has to be allowed up to 200 meters of the bank of the lake. In its status report submitted to the court, State Government has said that it has issued orders that no construction will be raised within 200 meters and authorities have been directed to implement this order in letter and in spirit. However, the Court has not lost sight of humanitarian aspect of the issue and has said that alternate accommodation should be provided to the affected people. Alternately they will be paid compensation to the tune of Rs 5,000 per family by way of house rent for maximum period of four months till they are rehabilitated permanently. It will be reminded that a couple of years back the State Government had announced that it had rehabilitated 17,000 households at a new residential site as they were removed from their locales under Dal retrieval plan.
The High Court has dealt this case with great sense of humanism. Affected people will welcome the just and sensible order of the court as they have suffered terribly owing to floods. Certainly after the floods the entire scenario has changed and it should be possible for the Government to make a serious bid of restoring Dal to its original purity and beauty. Though weeding machines have been put to work but the results are not very satisfactory. Growing of fresh weed has to be stopped and very close monitoring of the disposal mechanism of house boat refuse has to be doubly ensured. De-silting of the Harwan and other nullahs that disgorge into the Dal has to be undertaken fully and completely. LAWDA has suffered defamation owing to allegations of malpractice and swindling of funds. Anti-corruption proceedings against the indicted functionaries have to be expedited. If Dal is to be preserved these steps need to be taken without delay.
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