S Tahir-ul Haq
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Apr 29: Most of the water bodies of the valley including lakes and springs, which were main attraction for the domestic as well as foreign tourists, are facing certain doom due to criminal negligence of the residents and the environment conservation bodies.
Soaring mercury across the country is attracting tourists to Kashmir, but the visitors are pained to see the dying water bodies which enriched the floura and fauna of the valley.
Sources said that it is really shocking that the authorities are not interested in keeping lakes safe from pollution, be it famous Dal Lake, Wullar, Nageen, Anchar and the ponds in other parts of Kashmir valley, and tourism is likely to get affected.
The Dal and Wullar Lakes were once among the most beautiful water bodies in the world but at present they are facing certain extinction in decades to come, despite the authorities' claims that they are pollution free.
One of the tourist guides in Kashmir told ET that in the recent past, a foreign couple visited here and they stayed for two nights in a house boat in Dal Lake, and they observed that it had been polluted by the locals. However they also suggested that the authorities should take every possible measure to save the beauty of Dal, to take some step to prevent pollution of the lake.
A group of travel agents said, "there are many countries that have preserved their heritage water bodies and have revived them when they were on the brink of extinction. If they can do it, why can't we?"
In recent years silting of the lake, encroachments, inflow of sewage, excessive weeds growth and increase of certain chemical parameters that have polluted other bodies of Kashmir valley. |
