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| Taj in Kralsangri: Are Dal environment concerns taken care of? | | |
MUNISH GUPTA
Jammu, Dec 11: The signing of Memorandum of Understanding between Taj Group of Hotels and the SAIFCO for development of hotel site in Kralsangri on the banks of the Dal lake in Srinagar has raised many a questions. Over the years the state and the centre have allocated several hundred crores of rupees for the conservation of the Dal Lake. And whenever the authorities take into account pollution of the Lake they usually hold the hotel waste responsible for it.
On the right bank of the Lake, right from Dalgate to the Raj Bhawan a number of major and medium hotels have come up during the last 30 years. The sewage lines of these hotels are linked to the Lake which means all the refuse, dirt and waste from these hotels fall into the lake. During the Governor's rule in 1986 the then Governor, Jagmohan, had taken a serious view of the construction work that had been started by hoteliers and business houses during GM Shah's regime. He had tried his best to stop the construction on Kralsangri on the plea that raising of hotels and shopping complex could further result in pollution of the Lake. He had stated that if the construction work was not stopped it will result in environmental degredation. The work got slowed down but it could not be stopped because those who had aimed at building hotels were highly influential.
The hotel owners had close relations with all the chief ministers, who succeeded Sheikh Abdullah. This gave them the advantage of putting in the waste paper basket all the objections raised by the environmentalists and those connected with the Lake development. These environmentalists have ridiculed the state Government for having adopted dual policy. Explaining it they said on one hand large funds were allocated for the development and conservation of the Lake besides earmarking Rs.356 crores for the rehabilitation of the Dal dwellers who were to be shifted to other places on the other it had allowed hotel and shopping complexes to come up on the lake banks which would enhance the level of pollution of the water body.
They said it was mere waste of money when the Government has allocated Rs.298 crores for conservation of the lake which includes sewerage treatment, solid waste management etc. So far Rs.142 crores have been spent on these schemes but the environmentalists are of the opinion that these schemes may not save the Dal because of mushrooming of hotels and shopping complexes.
Experts believe that the Dal development project has proved a white elephant for both the state and the central Government. Official sources confirmed that the money spent on the conservation of the Dal Lake since 1977 has not yielded any positive results and had the same money been earmarked for hydel power generation a major power project would been constructed by now.
Others called the MOU between the Taj Group and the SAIFCO as the "understanding “for slow death of the Dal Lake.
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