Yes, Dal will die!

An editorial in the Kashmir Images makes a compelling case

Yes, Dal will die!

Lot of talk is being made preservation of environment, threats of pollutions, shrinking of Kashmir’s water bodies and threats to the ecological balance. Governments – both State as well as Centre – are pumping lots of money for preservation of Dal Lake. The Lake still continues to die inch by inch and one wonders where the money is going.

Whenever in Kashmir, Union Water Resource Minister, who claims restoration of Dal’s lost glory is his passion, talks about the Lake telling people how may crores have been spent and are being spend on the project but never tells them that as the digits of Dal budget go up so do the quantity of weeds, dirt and filth that poisons and kills it. Talking about restoration of Dal’s glory has become sort of fashionable, both for media, NGOs and the Government. You have to say something about Dal and you will be seen a genuinely concerned citizen. But unfortunately nobody goes to the roots of the problem.

The Government claims to be launching ‘sustained operations’ for cleaning the Lake but without giving a fig to the real problem. You keep cleaning and pollutants keep on polluting, how will the operation succeed? It seems the Government is taking one step forward and two backwards and the result therefore is anybody’s guess. Government fails to realize that its cleansing operation is less aggressive and potent than the subsequent polluting operation and unless the sources of pollution are taken care of, the Dal will continue to die no matter how many crores are spend in the unfortunate Lake’s name.

As per the records available with State Pollution Control Board (SPCB), 70 per cent of hotels and restaurants along boulevard on the banks of Dal Lake and at tourist resorts Gulmarg and Pahalgam have not sought no objection certificates from SPCB despite the standing orders by the Central Pollution Board under Environment Protection Act. It is pertinent to mention here that seeking of NOC from SPCB is mandatory for all the hotels, restaurants and business establishments under Environment Protection Act. And if such establishments are along the banks of a fragile and dying lake like that of Dal, the NOC becomes more than mandatory. But the figures speak otherwise. These hotels and restaurants are continuously polluting the lake and government watches as a silent spectator. No action has been initiated against any such establishment and thus the Dal Lake continues to remain a dumping ground for sewage of these establishments. The Houseboats too don’t have SPCB NOC and continue to dump all sewage in the dying Dal.

Need of the hour is to look towards this aspect of the problem. Unless the sources of pollution are not taken care of, how could, no matter what amounts of money are sanctioned, Dal Lake be cleaned. Government needs to be practical and instead of making tall claims in speeches and statements, concentrate on the ground realities. In a place while 70 per cent of grade I and grade II hotels and restaurants, not to speak of other smaller establishments including Dhabas, are not having NOC from SPCB, how could government have the cheeks to talk about controlling pollution and saving environment.