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| Demolish Illegal constructions near lakes: J&K HC | | |
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR ,Aug 25 : Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed the state government to take immediate measures for retrieving the areas of two lakes in Bandipora district which have been encroached upon.
The court, which is hearing a public interest litigation, also imposed a blanket ban on any type of construction in the area falling within the Shiekhsar and Khushwansar lakes.A division bench of the court comprising Chief Justice M M Kumar and Justice A M Magray directed the state government to implement all the measures recommended by a team of officers constituted after the PIL was filed by a local resident, Abdul Majeed Wali.
"We direct that the recommendations made by the committee in respect of Sheikhsar and Khushwansar (lakes) ... Should be immediately implemented and all necessary steps for retrieving Sheikhsar and Khushwansar lakes shall be taken before it is too late," the bench said in its order passed earlier this month.
The committee had recommended that the area of the two lakes be demarcated and all constructions there be banned with immediate effect.It had also recommended removing all the encroachments within the lakes, besides dredging out of the solid mass for restoring the water bodies.The committee recommended preservation of the wetlands portion of the lakes as these were important part of the ecosystem and attract large number of migratory birds. The court expressed its displeasure over the status report filed by the state authorities in respect of removal of encroachments from the lake areas.
"The report is perfunctory and the directions of this court have been taken in a casual manner," the bench observed.The court expressed surprise that the authorities had removed the plantations but issued notices to encroachers under the Land Revenue Act."We fail to understand how one set of encroachers have been removed and other set of encroachers have been issued notices by citing Land Revenue Act," it said.The court reiterated its earlier direction for removal of all encroachments and sought a status report from the authorities within four weeks. The case has been listed for next hearing on September 9.
The encroachment of the two important lakes came to light in 2011 after the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Mohammad Akbar Lone, who is also the local MLA, sanctioned funds from constituency development fund for earthfilling of one of the lakes to pave way for construction of a school.
The Centre is providing large amount of funds to the state government for restoration and preservation of lakes and other waterbodies in the state but so far desired results have not been achieved. |
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