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| Greed, indifference threatening existence of Wular 8 Govt sits over conservation funds | | |
Syed Tahir Bukhari
BANDIPORA, Aug 10 : Wular Lake in north Kashmir's Bandipora district has been endangered by the criminal negligence of the locals who have encroached land all across the famous water body and indifference of the administration which has stayed inert to gross violations. According to sources, "there are some villages like Sadurkote, Baniyar, and Manasbal as the critical points, where villagers with the help of Mansbal Development Authority (MDA) and Revenue Department have grabbed almost 60 acres of land which is a big loss to state exchequer." Nazir Ahmad of Manasbal told Early Times over the phone that, "the Central Government had approved the state Government's 'beautification project' under National Lake Conservation Action Plan (NLCAP) worth 400 crore and released 140 crore for the same, but the beatification drive is yet to be started.
One fifth of the water holding capacity has been lost over last three decades due to siltation from degraded catchments and wetland conversions for agriculture and willow plantations. "Willow plantation has been the biggest reason for the shrinking of the water body. The government had allowed the willow plantation inside the marshy areas in 1950. This has led to permanent land conversion" said Ahmad. Local residents say that the government has failed to implement the orders of removing encroachments orders issued eight years back in 2006. Official figures reveal that 27sqkm of the lake area is now under willow plantation".
According to the environmentalists depth reduction has threatened a number of endemic species of the lake, thereby making them figure in the endangered list of species.
"Direct discharges of solid and liquid wastes from the settlements all along River Jhelum and other streams have led to degradation of water quality and health hazards to the communities living around the Wular Lake, environmentalist alleged.
Early times have learnt from an official of Mansbal Development Authority (MDA) who wished not to be named said there is a serious risk of losing the biological diversity including loss of some important endemic and endangered species due to human encroachment increase in pollution level and heavy siltation.
He said that, "the maximum depth of the lake at present is about 14 meters but as the rampant pollution level is increasing the depth too has got reduced to about 2 meters at some places.
MDA official added that funding for restoration of Wular Lake has almost been stopped by present coalition government of Jammu and Kashmir due to unknown reasons, and no new projects have been taken up.
Meanwhile the residents of local area of Mansbal complained against the present government and expressed their anger and said "Wular has huge potential for tourism and can provide job opportunities for the locals if taken seriously, but the initiative stands reversed now as government has failed in providing justice with us every now and then. Locals alleged.
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