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| Govt awakes to form committee to safeguard water bodies | | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Feb 16: The government seems to have awakened from deep slumber and expressed concern on JK's dying and shrinking water bodies.
The fact that mocks at the government is that around 50 percent of the water bodies have already died down in the state.
The government on Friday announced that it constituted a six-member official panel to prepare action plan for reestablishing the preexisting network of streams, wetlands lakes and river Jhelum in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Committee to be headed by Divisional Commissioner Kashmir has been constituted in light of PIL No: 02/2014 titled Moulvi Peer Noor-ul-Haq v/s State and others.
However, what the government seems to have forgotten is that the measure taken now is too late and too little aswell.
A recent study by Jammu and Kashmir's renowned environmentalists and subject exp[erts during the past two years have found that 50 percent of lakes and wetlands in the state have been lost to other land use/land cover categories. During the last century, deforestation led to excessive siltation and subsequent human activity brought about sustained land use changes in these assets of high ecological value. The study concluded that the loss of water bodies in Jammu and Kashmir can be attributed to heavy population pressures and little government efforts during the consequent years to stop the rapid flow of urbanisation.
All the lakes and the vast associated swamps played an important role in maintaining the uniformity of flows in the rivers. In the past, during the peak summers, whenever the rivers would flow high, these lakes and swamps used to act as places for storage of excessive water and thereby prevented large areas of the state from floods. However, as per the reports more than half of these water bodies have disappeared. "Where was the government till now. Why it woke up from the slumber when the water bodies have already disappeared. It is a mere face saving exercise which the government is doing at present," says Ajay Sharma, a Jammu based student of environmental studies.
He added that the government did nothing when the water bodies in the state were converted for rice cultivation and tree plantations.
According to him, pollution from fertilizers and animal waste, hunting pressure on waterfowl and migratory birds, and weed infestation are other factors contributing to the loss of water bodies and state's natural beauty. The fish population in the lakes has witnessed a sharp decline due to depletion of oxygen and ingress of pollutants. "The government should have been there at the very early stage. It is a mere fire fighting which wouldn't help in any way," he added.
Meanwhile, the committee which was constituted on Friday has six members which include Chief Conservator of Forests Kashmir, Vice-Chairman LAWDA, Chief Engineer Irrigation & Flood Control Kashmir, Superintending Engineer UEED Kashmir and Regional Wildlife Warden Kashmir.
According to the order, the Committee would submit its final recommendations to the Administrative Secretary PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Department within three months for onward submission to the High Court. |
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