Asem Mohiuddin
Outside his splendid houseboat in the middle of Dal Lake, 50 year old Tariq Ahmad is bargaining with his local customer. For Ahmad, the deal is just the beginning of his business year since Covid19 during last year and earlier the article 370 abrogation in 2019 August had wreaked havoc to the tourism industry of Kashmir. Since the tourists were off the shores for the long time, Ahmad seized this opportunity to renovate his houseboat.
“I managed to renovate this houseboat within the parameters set by Union Territory Government. Since the work was involving only internal, I needed no permission,” he tells The Legitimate.
Tariq who is also an environmental activist and has been launching various initiatives to clean and preserve the Dal Lake is not too optimistic with the recently unveiled Houseboat policy by government.
What the policy says
The policy launched on March 29 by the Administrative Council headed by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha allows the registration of 910 house boats in Dal and Nigeen Lake within the period of one month.
The houseboats and associated structures are required to be fitted with bio-digesters for scientific treatment of solid/liquid waste as per the approved design of the Lakes and Waterways Development Authority, besides ensuring availability of adequate fire safety equipment along with trained staff to be verified by Fire & Emergency Services Department.
Further, the policy lays down regulations for ancillary facilities like kitchen, lodging, furniture, first-aid, electricity, power back-up, sanitary fittings and shikara for navigation. It also ensures availability of minimum basic facilities to the tourists to be categorised on the basis of different classes of houseboats.
The policy includes provisions for undertaking repairs on damaged, dilapidated and abandoned houseboats, and revival of cruise boats and donga cruise.
Meanwhile, Ahmad says such measures have been taken in the past but when it comes to its implementation on ground, the reality is quite contrary.
“Before the government rolls out the conservation and protection policy for Dal and Nigeen lakes, it is necessary to find out who choked these water bodies and fix the responsibility,” he says.
But Ahmad is not alone and many more houseboat owners demand a time bound enquiry to ascertain the actual reasons for Dal’s devastation.
“For all the mess and filth in Dal Lake, we a small community of Houseboat owners and Shikara wallas are blamed. But the question is who allowed encroachment in the middle of the lake and how the material was transported,” the houseboat owners questioned.
The Dal dwellers are blaming the vote bank politics for the deterioration of Dal Lake. The government several years back built 1.5 kilometers of macdamzied road till the interiors of Dal Lake. The government further provided the concrete drainage system and electricity to the illegally settled colony.
“Why was this road built illegally by the government? Only after the road was built, the people transported the material and filled the Lake to raise constructions,” says Mohammad Ayoub.
From Naseem Bagh, and Mamta point, the locals claim that the local government as an appeasement policy funded various infrastructure projects inside the Dal Lake that included several bridges and concrete paths as well.
“You can see, there is no encroachment on the southern side of the lake since there are no roads, bridges and drainage system built. On the northern side, a large scale encroachment is taking place because after building roads and bridges people face no hiccups in transporting material,” Ahmad points out. “As long as vote bank politics prevail, the Dal shall erode.”
Iftikar Ahmad Khan, a journalist from Dalgate Srinagar, however, says the destruction of Dal Lake began many decades back when National Conference founder Shekh Mohammad Abdullah assured the people that a concrete road from Mamta will be built for Dal dwellers.
“I was a high school student when elders in our family were talking of this promise made by NC founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah,” he recalls. “Though the road was not built during his time, it was his party that later completed the project”.
But it didn’t stop here; the seeds of political appeasement were sown and the Dal Lake faced the worst. The former PDP leader Moulvi Iftikar Ansari who was also wielding his religious influence in the Shia community also approved several projects in Shia dominating areas.
“If we look into the issue deeply and practically, it is the government that encourages and facilitates the encroachment inside Dal Lake”.
A group of tourists enjoying Shikara ride inside lake/Photo The Legitimate
That is not all. The Dal Lake is even now turning into a dumping ground with dozens of live drains entering from various residential areas.
The official report in March last year revealed that 70 per cent sewerage of Srinagar city is smoothly entering into the waters of Lake and damaging its flora and fauna. The Experts Committee was constituted by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court to review the functioning of STPs operational inside the Dal Lake which found them ‘underutilized and poorly maintained’.
There are around 1200 houseboats stationed inside the Dal and Nigeen Lakes among them some are in extremely dilapidated conditions. There are also 4500 shikaras rowing in the waters of Lakes. From the existing 24 Square kilometers in 1962, the Dal Lake has shrunk upto 11.98 square kilometers now.
