Rajan Gandhi Situated at a distance of 42 kms from Jammu city, Surinsar Lake is known for its natural bounty and immense mythological importance. Original name being ‘Surung Sar’ (tunnel path), derived from historical event that once Pandavas during their exile sojourned the place where Arjuna fell in love with Nagakanya, Alupi and so the son Baburuvahana was born who grew up with great physical power. Arjuna knew nothing about son Baburuvahana and as such after conclusion of great Mahabharata war, when Pandavas performed yajna, Babruvahana held the horse released by Arjuna. A battle royal ensued with Arjuna felling down and swooned. Babruvahana’s mother rushed and scolded him for fighting his own father and after much consultations the conclusion was drawn that Arjuna can be saved with the help of an herb which grew in Pattal Lok as such Babruvahana shot an arrow onto ground piercing the earth, picking up the lifesaving herb and appearing out at Surinsar. Arjun’s life was thus saved and two depressions caused at entry and exit point were filled with water which are now two mesmerising lakes Surinsar and Mansar though the original sites of depressions created have changed very much owing to topographical changes through centuries. The two Union Territories of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir State have above three-thousand big and small wetlands spread across all twenty-two districts of both J&K and Ladakh. Of these wetlands, four are of international importance and of greater importance than those in all other Indian states and Union Territories.One among them is Surinsar lake.Surinsar is rain-fed without permanent discharge and this is very important for ecological sustainability of this historic lake. Declared as Ramsar Wetland in 2005, also included in the National Wetland Conservation Programme of Government of India and to be declared an Eco-Sensitive Zone. These Surinsar-Mansar twin sacred lakes attract a good number of waterfowl populations during the winter months such as common teal, mallard, common pochard, tufted duck, gadwall, brahminy duck, wigeon, grey heron, pond heron, night heron, little egret, cattle egret, Indian moorhen, purple moorhen, white breasted kingfisher, common kingfisher, grey wagtail, pheasant tailed jacana and the twin lake also support important species of turtles namely Indian flap shell turtle (Lissemyspunctata) and Indian soft-shell turtle (Nilssoniagangeticus). But this place practically seems to be no one’s baby right now. Ramsar is an international treaty signed in Ramsar, a city in Iran in 1971, for the conservation and sustainable use of wetlands. The Convention’s mission is “the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local and national actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world”. There are more than 2300 wetlands of international importance right now and today. India signed the Ramsar convention on February 1st,1982 and currently has 42 sites designated as Wetlands of International Importance,the Ramsar Sites.Ramsar convention provides guidance on environmental, social and economic impact assessment and cost-benefit analysis, zonation and multiple use, design and maintenance of buffer zones, and the application of the precautionary approach. Wetlands are dynamic areas, open to influence from natural and human factors. In order to maintain their biological diversity and productivity and to permit the wise use of their resources by people, an overall agreement is essential between the various managers, owners, occupiers and other stakeholders. ‘Management Plan’ should be kept under review and adjusted to take into account the monitoring process, changing priorities, and emerging issues. An authority should be appointed to implement the management planning process, and this authority should be clearly identified to all stakeholders. A wetland use is not ‘wise-use’ if the intervention leads to adverse changes in ecosystem components and processes, reduction in water flowing into the wetlands or reduction in the area under inundation, or changes in inundation regime or fragmentation of wetlands into small patches of water or reduction in water holding capacity or degradation of water quality or reduction in diversity of native species or decline in wetlands resources such as fish, aquatic plants, and water.As per guidelines of Ministry of Environment and Ecology each State/UT should have ‘Wetlands Authority’ which shall constitute Technical Committee to review brief documents, management plans and advise on any technical matter referred by the Wetlands Authority, a Grievance Committee, consisting of at least four members, to provide a mechanism for hearing and forwarding the grievances raised by the public to the Authority. But as usual all rules and regulations fail in Jammu and Kashmir, Wetland Authority of our UT has been appointed in November 2020 only with 18 members as notified and technical experts still to be nominated. A visit to Suriansar is too mesmerizing at first sight, blue water bowl just suddenly appears in sight as one approaches the wetland. Beautiful natural landscape is too soothing for visitors, faraway from hustle bustle of city life. Sight of numerous temples, forming necklace of white pearls, on the far away banks is soothing to mind and eyes. There are two approach roads, one old road leading to habitat and other straight way to bank of lake. As one gets down from vehicle and approaches the bank reality just dawns, broken wooden jetties, damaged view point sheds, buffaloes taking bath in lake, algae and dumped mud resulting hundreds of meters’of land appearing in the lake. A look around and it is clear that the lake bank opposite park is damaged and buffaloes or stray animals get into lake from this point only. The so called open park instead of being converted into a blossoming flowers delight, has been converted into some substandard EsselWorld type park, iron jhullas with backdrop of scenic mountain peaks on one side and lake on other side, factually this iron park is a sore to eyes. During development of this park only, all malba went into the lake with authorities including Surinsar Mansar Development Authority, Forest Department and Wild Life Sanctuary Authorities looking helplessly immense damage to this Ramsar protected lake as this malba will ultimately settle down on bed and almost impossible to clear it. A further look around and different nullah outlets are visible all across the lake. There is no Sewage Treatment Plant at Surinsar, no Solid Waste treatment plant and the fact is Suriansar doesn’t have even a Master Plan. Factually, there is no Management Plan for Surinsar right now. It seems after signing Ramsar Treaty both GoI and State authorities have just forgotten about this lake. Untreated city sewage continuously gets dumped into lake. Most astonishing part is that some last rites rituals are also being performed on the banks of this lake with the result numerous clay pots can be seen on one side of bank with no effort by authorities to remove them. A walk around the pathway should have been a life time experience but broken pathways with a risk of being falling into lake at many places, no lights at all along the bank leaves one wondering what development has been done all these years and where are funds used of mega Surinsar-Mansar rejuvenation plan. As per Wildlife Sanctuary Department which is directly responsible for Lake conservation, this pathway should be elevated path as turtles are unable to have sun basking and no natural hatching place for them, so practically lake water level should be low and Wildlife Department has already written to Irrigation Department to lower the level of lake water but no action in this regard has been taken so far. Higher water level is also eroding banks and cause of bank trees getting dead and falling off in lake with no effort to remove them, as such lake is shrinking from all sides simultaneously. Even the mid island is surrounded by such dead wood and no plans to replant trees to strengthen banks and stop flow of mud into lake. All the wooden jetties and view point sheds on the farther side are in tatters with wooden logs lying in lake itself for years together. It seems authorities are either in hibernation or deliberately overlooking the immense damage to lake. Environmental degradation is one of the prime indicators of unsustainable socio- economic and inequitable development. The pollution research papers published on the Hydrological Profile of Mansar and Surinsar lakes of year 2010-2011 revealed that the Ca and Mg account for 68% of the cations and HCO3 accounts for 85% of the total anion. The concentration of phosphate
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