By: Dr. Siddhartha Ghosh,

Srinagar October 09: Srinagar, like any other city, is expanding, with its population growing, the families residing growing larger in number, and the resultant ever-increasing demand for land. It's understandable that the people in the city need houses, their businesses obviously will need space, and the city naturally needs to expand. Although the question that Srinagar must ask itself now is; at what cost does it demand development? Historically the city was built around a network of wetland, marshes, lakes, nallas, and natural drainage channels; although increasingly these water bodies are giving way to construction and in turn eroding the very reason which made Srinagar an urban landscape.

This is not simply a story about Dal Lake. It is a story about the interconnected water system of Srinagar. Dal, Nigeen, Anchar, Gilsar, Khushal Sar, Brari Nambal and the numerous channels and wetlands around them cannot be viewed as isolated pieces of real estate. The Comptroller and Auditor General of India has itself recorded that Anchar and Gilsar function as exit channels for water flowing out of Dal Lake and are important to the ecological functioning of the larger Dal system. The CAG further found that the expanse of Anchar and Gilsar had reduced over time and their water quality had deteriorated because of encroachment and earth filling, while solid waste from shoreline settlements was also entering the water bodies.

The problem becomes evident when the figures are examined. The latest CAG audit finds that Dal Lake’s water body area declined 10.15% in the last 13 years from 15.40 km² in 2007 to 12.91 km² in 2020. The same period saw floating vegetation increase from 5.26 to 6.79 km², plantations and croplands increased to 2.85 km² from 2.29 km², and built-up area increased to 1.025 sq km from 0.74 sq km. The statistics do not necessarily mean illegal reclamation, as lakes naturally experience changes of a seasonal and ecological nature. Although this does establish a clear pattern of human pressure increasing on a fragile ecosystem and a significant reduction in the water component of the lake.

This decline is not even a new discovery as a similar audit covering the period up to March 2006 had reported a reduction from 24 km² in 1962 to 11.98 km² in 2006. Also noteworthy is the expenditure of 235.70 crores incurred upon the maintenance of the lake at that time. It's unfortunate that similar trends continue to appear nearly two decades later and it must force the authorities to ponder as to why Srinagar continues to lose water space despite a conservation program running and expenditure incurred on the same. Older residents will remember that Ali jaan Road and areas around Eidgah and SKIMS Hospital were dominated by water marshes and open land in the area was later acquired for residential settlement and construction.Click Here To Follow Our WhatsApp ChannelGradual construction has transformed the area and the land that once held water has been levelled and eventually being treated as ordinary land now.

Follow the Soil
Making a water body or marshy land fit for construction demands dumping of soil in the protected area. While citizens often see houses being constructed, or materials being moved, or construction continuing, the scrutiny from the official department is at the weakest. Srinagar today has modern technologies of drones, CCTV cameras, satellite imagery, and digital records and these technologies can be deployed in tracking illegal dumping of soil in a protected water body area. Also it's noteworthy that deep inside water bodies like a lake, there are no roads and the material is shifted from lorries to boats and then carried across. Activities like these often take place in the night and institutions like Lakes Conservation and Management Authority (LCMA) must look closely into this. Officials on sensitive posts should move regularly and inspections should be carried out frequently, with photographs and GPS locations.

It is also important to understand that families living on such land which has been taken from the lake are not villains. The economics is simple and generally people or families with less means will try to take a house that they can afford. This generally means buying a house on land reclaimed from water bodies. It is here that the government should step in and lay, in plain terms, as to what a resident is expected to do. Whatever course of action is taken, one thing is to be kept in mind: Srinagar will have to plan keeping its water bodies in mind and not against it.

The Action Plan
A time-bound plan to protect and restore major water bodies by constructing boundaries around them, mapping them digitally, and making them available to the public should be considered by the authorities. This should be followed by similar activities for smaller areas which have borne the brunt of urbanization in Srinagar. The authorities must understand that progress has to be judged by the spread of water bodies in Srinagar and not by the tons of weed which was pulled out from the lakes this season.

Srinagar must make its mind up as to how its lakes become a part of the city's character and how roads, bridges, and other essential urban development coexist with the same. Srinagar was a city shaped by water and the coming generation must inherit it in the same manner. Else it will be unrecognizable as a mass of concrete rather than the lakes that it used to be. People and water have coexisted in the valley for a very long time and with some honest planning and enforcement this will work like it used to in the past.

The views expressed in the article are Author's own, by : Dr. Siddhartha Ghosh,
Director, Red Lantern Analytica Foundation