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| Main outflow channel of Dal Lake turns into dustbin | | Smart City Srinagar! | |  Saahil Suhail
Early Times Report
Srinagar, Dec 23: In Smart City Srinagar, the critical water bodies continue to face official apathy despite the GoI pumping in ‘uncounted’ funds.
This can be gauged from the fact that Chuntkul, the primary outflow channel of Dal Lake, has been turned into a garbage dumping site.
The water channel is full of weeds and garbage which has choked it completely.
Local residents allege that the Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) which was renamed and is now called LCMA has turned blind eye towards its conservation.
“The water in this Chuntkul used to be so clean that residents were using it for drinking and washing clothes,” they said.
They said that the water channel was posing a serious threat to human life. “Gates have been locked and they aren’t being reopened and water is not being allowed to move,” they said, adding employees were taking care of these gates previously but since around 12 years LAWDA has abandoned this water channel. They alleged that the department painted gates and left without carrying out dredging of the channel. “Gate of this water channel isn’t working now,” they said. According to local experts the Srinagar Municipal Corporation and Lake Conservation and Management Authority (LCMA) was also ignoring illegal encroachment of this vital outflow channel of Dal Lake despite clear cut directions from the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.
They said that the authorities had launched a drive to demolish the structures, however it acted selectively with the result that the illegal constructions on the water channel in Gawkadal weren’t even touched.
Residents asked the Lake Conservation and Management Authority (LCMA) to clean the water channel and repair its gates as the water channel was badly sticking and causing inconvenience to the local population.
Important to mention here the LCMA has spent around Rs 1000 Cr from 2002 to 2018 for cleaning Dal Lake and its conservation, however it made little impact on ground. |
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