KNS :: Articles :: The Glory of Dal-Lake is Short Lived

No two opinions on the fact, that Dal Lake is an imperative part of the heritage and beauty of Kashmir. For the part of history Kashmir has been receiving accolades on account of beauty of Dal Lake. Dal Lake in Srinagar still looks, for the most part, like its picture postcard images, islands, houseboats, floating gardens, shikaras, and water shimmering under the summer sun. The beauty is pleasant and can not be expressed in mere words. It has been the favorite place for Mughal kings and scores of admirers both inland and foreign. But as ill fate would have it, this beautiful lake has been molested at the hands of mal adroit situations and government as well as people who witness the deterioration of this world over famous lake. Even though efforts are on to save the lake, seriously polluted Dal Lake needs appropriate attention.
The lake had always been a recreational and economic centre. The islands in the Dal are known to have supplied Srinagar with much of its vegetables and fruits during the mid-17th century reign of Aurangzeb's Governor to Kashmir, Saif Khan. The Mughal gardens on the northeastern shore were laid during the same period, and a succession of monarchs spent the summer in the lake's vicinity.
It was only in the 18th century, however, that the city itself began to grow towards the lake. Well into this century, some checks on urbanization around the lake were maintained by the feudal Dogra monarchy, with the Boulevard area remaining out of bounds for habitation. But roads were built, notably along the southwest fringe, cutting off areas of the lake around the Shankaracharya and Zarbawan hills. The marshes that were thus formed were reclaimed for the construction of shops and houses. In 1947, a pipeline was laid over a bund to channel drinking water from the Harwan reservoir, cutting the Dal into two and thus reducing the circulation of water.
In the mid-1970s, with tourism becoming a key industry for Jammu and Kashmir, the pressures on the lake multiplied. There were less than a hundred houseboats on the Dal and Nagin lakes at the turn of the century, but their number grew to a staggering 1,400 by 1981. The 1981 Census recorded that hamlets around the lake had a population of 24,500, an increase of over 100 per cent since 1973.
Dal Lake is under serious threat. It has been a victim of weed infestation, pollution, encroachment, eutrophication, siltation, degradation in the catchments, unplanned growth of hamlets, houseboats, tourism etc. The Dal Lake is home to 125 hamlets, 602 houseboats, 272 doonga boats in which nearly 60,000 people reside. The communities living in the confines of the Lake live in poor environmental conditions and generally have a poor quality of life. There is no proper drainage system. The entire waste material and the faecal matter are disposed off into the Lake. The same Lake water is being used for washing, bathing and even for drinking purposes by many people. There is urgent need to sensitize the residents to the grave problems of water quality, pollution, waste disposal, and health and hygiene issues and restore the health of the Lake by seeking their active participation.
The most imperative thing to be done is to make people and the government to understand the value and essence of water bodies in our valley. The Dal is one of the most important reservoirs as such. The decisive economy for substantial part of valley per capita depends upon the lake and its surroundings. This part of communication policy can be shared through Knowledge and awareness. Concise and tactful dissemination of information is needed for saving the lake. Media can prove a great help in supporting the cause and infact prioritizing the issue to a large extent.

First and foremost thing is to ensure the effective medium to propagate the information regarding the current policies and the need of the hour. There are surely so many ways to approach it but the likely intended effect would be gained only when the target audiences are provided the message when they are finding it more personal. The comfortable situation is to be created. What happens is that generally, people take so many issues for granted which seem banal to them. The need is to ensure that the effect of the policy matter is put forward in a very serious way. They say Hope is denial of reality, but here in case of Dal Lake, let us hope government and concerned authorities take a serious note of the situation.