An editorial in the Greater Kashmir restates what should be the number one challenge in the valley but always gets second billing
Calling Civil Society
The most vexed problem after the “Kashmir issue” the state is confronted with is preserving the Dal Lake. Is talking about its preservation whipping a dead horse? Reams and reams of newsprint might have been consumed during the past three decades for highlighting the threats of extinction that most of our bodies have been facing. Scores of NGO’s might have been formed and funded by various ministries during the period for launching campaigns for the protection of Dal, Nageen and other lakes in and around Srinagar city but nothing seems to be working for initiating a peoples movement for the protection of water bodies. The government undoubtedly created an authority for protection of the lakes and the water bodies and pumped billions of the rupees in these projects but seen in right perspective the authority as well as other organizations have so far failed in protecting them. A couple of years back the Jammu and Kashmir High Court intervened in a big way and made the government to take some drastic measures for ensuring preservation and protection of the Dal Lake. There can be no denying that initially the government launched a massive drive for removing the illegal structures around and inside the lake but as time ticked on the drive not only lost its inertia but slowed down to a naught. And in the wake of agitation over the allotment of land to Amarnath Shrine Board reconstruction of unauthorized and illegal structures was started and it continued till it came under media gaze. Had the state administration shown will and determination of launching a ‘willing-campaign’ after being fully empowered by the court there would have been no further encroachments inside and around the lake and by now some portion of the encroached lake would have been restored.
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Monday broadened the scope of the Dal Lake case and passed a series of orders directing the government to come up with detailed reports about four lakes of Srinagar city that include Dal, Nageen, Anchar and Khushalsar. What speaks volumes about the nonchalance of the organization and authorities that they have not so far provided the basic data about these water bodies to the court and whatever information has been provided is archival? It is astonishing that the state government is relying on a survey conducted in 1986 which states that there are 6000 families and 2500 structures inside the lake. The Dal Development Authority in routine should have computed the latest figures and placed before the court the existing position. As is indicative from the elaborate court directions the court intends to take a comprehensive view not only of the Dal Lake but all other water bodies in the city. Truth, while Dal and Nageen lake are gasping for breaths the Anchar, Khushalsar and Barinambal are as good as dead. While the court ‘has not issued any fresh directions on the encroachments but has directed that any officer would be directed sternly if found permitting people to raise any construction in breach of court direction’ what is required is the pro-active role by the civil society for preserving and protecting the water bodies. It cannot be denied that the corruption in the administration has played a devastating role in the destruction of the lakes but lack of civic sense has also contributed to the problem in a big way. The print and electronic media has been playing a substantive role in the spread of environmental consciousness in people but in our society the pulpit continues to influence the society. Both the civil society and the pulpit will have to play a role in saving the water bodies of the state.