Perhaps, for the first time, a specific , if not a comprehensive, policy for houseboats on the waters of two of the famous lakes in Kashmir – the Dal Lake and the Nigeen Lake has been formulated. If there was one earlier, that was for registration , categorisation and pricing of tariffs only of these houseboats depending upon their levels of the location, tasteful inner ambiance and the comforts provided to the tourists staying put in such boarding cum lodging boats designed and made in peculiar manner . To think of these two lakes without houseboats is either knowing not much about these lakes or underestimating the special utility they are having for centuries for the visiting tourists. They were there before also but why now only , say for the last more than three decades, houseboats are seen more in the context of pollution of these two lakes, is not wholly without cogent reasons.
Both these lakes are natural sweet water lakes where, speaking in common and ordinary parlance, self purifying process at a particular rate used to ward off and cleanse any amount of muddying and polluting process, all manmade, of their waters. Commercial greed coupled with administrative indifference and non perceiving of mounting ways of polluting these water bodies resulted in their pathetic conditions of having now virtually turned into huge septic tanks . Until a few years back students or general public going on excursions and visits to Mughal gardens in boats known as “Dongas” used to drink the Dal lake’s water immediately after passing Nehru Park and the water used to be crystal clear , with natural taste and perfectly harmless and healthy. Mushroom growth of houseboats , dumping waste material into the lakes from adjoining localities and making small islands for commercial gains, growing vegetables and constructing huts and houses , the sewage there-from going direct into the lakes simply caused their shrinkage and slow decay. Hence the need for a proper policy was imperatively felt.
The policy recently formulated by the Administrative Council under the chairmanship of the Lieutenant Governor GirishChanderMurmu listing various guidelines for registration , renewal and operation of houseboats in the Dal and Nigeen lakes is a welcome decision and a step taken towards regulating operation of the houseboats with an aim to save these lakes to whatever possible extent, from menacing levels of pollution. That a proper legal framework would be in place to ensure optimal enforcement is a balanced step so that the guidelines could be followed in order to lend seriousness of purpose to the framework of Dal conservation formulated by Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) . Needless to add, LAWDA , prima facia , has plans and framework aimed at saving the famous water body from increasing levels of pollution but has not reasonably sufficient administrative , legal and financial support to implement strictly the tenets of the said framework.
It is to be realised by not only the Houseboat owners but everyone associated in one or the other way with these lakes that when these lakes survive the onslaught of violation of their sanctity , overcrowding of houseboats, dirtying the waters, causing shrinkages, encroachments, raising haphazardly small constructions around etc, only then could it be possible to preserve them for future generations who otherwise would perhaps not be ‘seeing’ these lakes but only reading about them. The policy, therefore, is formulated aiming at addressing various issues, sustainability of tourism , pollution free water, cultivation fish and saving many extinct species , a clean and attractive atmosphere around these lakes etc to attract tourists and ensuring livelihood of houseboat and shikara owners. That no new houseboat would be allowed to be on the waters of these two lakes, as per the new policy, would to a large extent address the conservation related issues. The role of the Advisory Committee and Regulatory Committee and complying with the guidelines of the High Court should in tandem bring in a perceptible improvement with respect to regulatory mechanism and addressing environmental and pollution related matters of the lakes under reference.
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