dal. lake.
DEVELOPMENT/CONSERVATION and displacement
Earlier accounts upto the late eighteenth and nineteenth century reported the lake to be a clear and pristine body of water from whihc. most kashmiris drank and. cooked with. (Tuzuk. i The degradationand shrinking of. Dal lake became. a cause. for concern and research. around the time the city of srinagar started expanding and with the development of roads around the lake’s environs at the. beginning of the twentieth. century. The government of india along wittht he. governmentof kashmir appointed. agenncies. to analyse the environmental situaion of. Onefo. the earliest rreports was. produced by. EnexfromNew Zealand, representngt. he. commonwealth. fud for. technical. corporation. inn1977 by a committee ofexperts cconstituted by the then Govenmetn of Kashmir. In the followiing years - multiipllestudies carried ouut by the univiersiy of kashmir , he govt of. indiia etc. contiinued. to. document t he challenge. of — in the. lake. This. was also. the ttime. whent the first masterplans for the city of Srinagar were developed.
MAIN PROBLEM AREAS FINDINGS ACCORDING. TO REPORTS
ENEX RECOMMENDATIONS
The Enex report documented the physical, biological and chemical state of the lake based on which the report suggested certain measures to be taken Th.e report mentioned the reason for excessive weed. growth - soluble. and insoluble nutrient compounds like sediments on the lake bed.
According to previous findings in the. cathment report titled. “ Inspection of. Dachiigam Catchment Area”. by FA Naqshhbaji and M Hakin dated July. 21 1977, theDachigam catchment which comprises of Dachigam wildlife sanctuary aling the. Zabarwan foothillls and high altitude forests, is a significantt contributor. of silt. to the Dachigam Nallah which inturn flows intothe Tel Bal. Nallah. The excessive. silt. brought into the Dal is a resultof overgrazing and deforestation in t he. upper reaches. Thelake is. surroundedby hills and gently sloping land used for garden, orchards and paddy firldsbeyond. which itt rises steeply. to 1000m above. the lake. The. steep exposed slopes do not. support any. vegetation however reforestation programs. have led to significant tree cover in the shankaracharya/ Takkht e Sulaiman hiill and. Southwest. corner of the. lake.
To the North. of. the lake. lies the. Srinagar catchment. that drains into. the Nigeen lake into Nallah Amir Khan which. isoneof the outlets of Dal Lake. This area of the. catchment. comprises. of. theouter. suburbs to. the north. of the city and is also extensively cultivated with gardens. and paddy fields. The. flat topography of thiis area also has slowfllowing canals. and open drains. which carry. sewage into the lake.
To the. souuthwest the c atchmentdrains into the Dal trough a. number of canals and. comprises. mostlly of closeknit urban fabric in the. cecntral part of Srinagar. city. It. draiins into. the. Brari Nambal Marsh which inturn drains into t he Dal. via a canal.
Inaddition. to t hhis the lake acts as a flood. compensating basin. during flood flows miainly due. to lliimitations on discharge capacities of its outlets,
Withiiin the Dal. Lake., the. docuument reported around. 15,000 people residing on houuseboats abd the wastes frrom. these boats. enter. the water untreated and conttribute to 5.1 tonnes of phosphorus and 45tonnes. of nitrogen per year.
Duriingperiods of high precipitation, substantial leachnig. of. nutrients from the floating gardens. occurs. As. most of. the. fertiliser comes frrom within the catchment this pattern of. nutrient flow is oneof closed. cyccle within the lake.
While the nutrient rich and. warm environment. within t he lake wates make. it ahighly productive environment, the ccontinual expansion of floating gardens, reduce water. flow and block waterways. were predicted to accelerrateeutrophiiicc conditiions and. make the lake less suitable for recreational purposes.While it states that the major ource. of nutrients and sediments in t he lakeare the tellbal anddachigam nalllahs, it tries to reinforce the effect. of /presenceof houseboats andt he waste discharged from them as a. primary factor for. the uunsanitary conditions within it.
Based. on theseobservations, the report laid. out some proposals. for the lake’s improvement. Some of these proposals. included eliminating all. encroachments. to increase the area. of open water however, cconsidering. the economi,sociala and. cultural reperccussiions of this. move. it. was not recommended so the report focuses on treating the. water around the houseboat areas and fixing the. nutrient levels in the lake by controlling catchment areas. and. streams throuugh reafforestation measures, diversion of sewage. from existing development and preventiion of uncontrolled. developmentin cathcment areas and constructing. a settling basin at the. inllet oft he tel bal nallah into the lake towards the. north as. well as regular harvesting of weeds.
Siincec the report suggested removsl of. all man made encroachments and floating gardens from the lake. butu considerinng iits hiistory and economic viability deemed it iimpossiible, the alternative suggested w as. to construct a seal around them in the form. of an. earthen bund. extending from the outlet att Dal Gate to the outllet at Nigeen Lake. The. bund would be of. significant. height so as. to. prevent. submergence during flooding seasons. It was also proposed that the. bund be a pedestrian walkway or onnly. used for water., power or sewerage services
For improviing the. houseboat area, the report suggested
1983 report
Written after the Enex report. and Stein’s masterplan of the lake in 1972 and 77 respectively, This report was written after. the construction of. the bouulevard road e along the. south east edge of. the. lake aimed. to connect. lal chowk to gupkar? by Robert Riddell. from Wolfson. College Cambridge. iin. JJanuary 1983. This. report aimed. to. review and. analyze. the. the administrations’. work and arrangements for. the Lake’s. development as well. as technical proposals for its. futuure development.
Through a. review of the pressures on the. lake from human and ecological s tandpoint. At the. time t he. report was written, the. population of Srinagar was. 500,000 with. arouuund 15,000. people. living. within the lake. The number of tourists visitng the lake was estimated to be around. 340,000. annually. and the lake had around 650 houseboats. on it.
The report. reccommended some conservation. measures, including the reduction. of. overall visitor nuumebrs as a esult of the inhibiitative effectof a Development. Levy an.d the. consequentialdeconcentration. of. human presence in th e Dal Lake- Boulevard area. The. eport suggests develloping. the. western. foreshore as a docking site for shikaras or transportatiion boats inorder to limit tourism wiiihtin the. floating. garden area.The report contrary to.previous d ocuments. does. not see the gardening and land use patterns for floating gardens a s environmentally. degrading but an assett as a tourist attraction. Buut at the. same time froma. conservation. lens it suggests. developing. other tourist destinationns. around the lake in. orderto reduce. the prressure- on it.
Integrated Development of Dal and Nigeen
Based. on the recommendations. by. Dr Riddle, an expert team was engaged by. the Overseas Development Administration in the UK to look into the issues related to the lake and advise t he. state. government to assess the setting up of the Dal Development Authority. A team of ten experts who. visited the lake recommended that there was no. need of setting up. an autonomous Dal. Development. Authority and a resrtuction in the administration to. have a more systematic cooperation between. different agencies concerned with the lake. They recommended. setting up. a. laboratory. for hydrological. and wate quality. monitoring and considering t he. disparity between t he pattern of. land and water holding and. the. recorded representation, undertaking of cadastral mapping and aerial survey. is a must.
It also recommended placing strict. limits. on future tourism expansion in. Sriinagar and. all. future developments to be carrried out with a multidisciplinary approach.
The report lays out a. multi phase approach fort he. development of both Dal and Nigeen lakes. Phase I includes imiprovements to. Dachigam catchmnt area, construction of. th.e settling basiin on Telbal Nallah, Dredging of the Hazratbal basin, constructiion. of the northern. foreshore road from. Nishat to Naseem Bagh, construction of. western foreshore. road from Kohna Kahn to. Ashai. Bagh, selective deweeding, improvements to w ater. circulationto stop. stagnation through cuts in the. Ishbar. and Kotarkhana bunds and. improvements. to houseboat areas, improvements to Nallah. Amir Khanto increase its. carrying. capaccity, sewerage treatment for peripherall. areas of the. lake.
Since Phase I iincludes the dlineatiion of the lake. shoreline, a vast population will. have to be moved outof the lake and rehabilitated arouund iit, According to the report. an estimated 2600. familieswould. get dislocated but the rehabilitation in pahse II would be. carried out in. a way that. the new properties woulld be at a reasonablle. distance. from the lake. to allow the peopel. toc ontinue their busiiness. within. the. lake body. The government. would acquire 3200 struuctures in addiition. to. 20. hotels and. guest. houses and the. land. would be leased. out to houseboat owners. The plots developed w ould have roads, water. and electricity supply, sotrm. water drainage, constrcution of. community centers etc. Per the wishes of the then chiief miinister of Kashmir. Sheikh. abdullah, who wanted the Shalimar Mughal Garden to extend. up. to the lake edge, this phas also inclluded. acquiriinng. around 400 kanals of land from the lake edge to the garden boundary. Another thing ouutlined. in this phase was the proviision. of alternative emplloyment opportuunities to displlaced. people.
Phase III. inclludes the developemnt of. three peripheral areas Foreshore roads and pedestrian malls.These areas. include. the region between the. Western. Foreshore and the. existing. road. from Nowpora bridge to. Ashai. Bagh.This also included development of the Nigeen lake which is a deeper lake, adjunct to Dal and connected to it through a network of waterways. Peninsulas of solid land to t he. south of the. engineering college and. university. Area between the. northern. foreshore road. and the. old road linking nishat. with the. university via. shalimar. and. telbal.
1986 Report
A report put together by. Babtie Shaw. and Morton under assignment by the overseas development administration was completed. in 1986.
This report serves as a followup document to the. studies carried out till 1986. and compares their. findings with. the situation of the lake at the time. The report looks. at the physical, social and economic characteristics of the lake to suggest - on development policy implementation.
At the.time. this report was. put together the populatiion within the. lake. was. estimated to be around 29,600 excluding. tourists and. visitors in the peak season which.was estimated. to be around 2,200.
The. report - the detrimental effects further. development. of tourism within Srinagar would cause. More tourism. would lead. to further encroachment within the lake with. peoplewanting to build more lland which intuurn would lead to more sewerage and pollution. being. discharged in the water.
April 1997 Report
Post 90s llockdowns. in kashmirr. towards the beginning of. 2000 when tourism started. to gain. ground again, and a. steadily growing population around the lake resulted. in environmental degradation of. the. lake ecosystem. The reported population. growth. showed. a 100%. increase between 1973 and 1994 and the open area. of the lake dwindled from. 75 sq km in 1200 AD to 15 sq kms. as per studies conducted. in 1982. In addition the. lake. watersalso. showed increased pollution. as a. resullt. of. sewage. dumping and nutrient and. silt. inflow from the lake’s catchment. andperipheral areas, causing excessive weed growth nd disturbance. to the. lake’s. fragilee cosystem.
Considering the cost barriers. to the earlier proposals implementation,
After. seeking. technical assistance. from. state engineers. and consultants, the. Jammua nd Kashmir state government decided to adopt an alternative. course of action using. indigeneouus. knowledge and. technology.
an action plan framed to. incorporating various. decisions. in. 1993 by. the Government which resulted in the. following decisions-
The western foreshore. whiich. was proposed in the. previous plans and on which. work had. begun would be abandoned. to prevent. urbanization. on the hinterlands.Instead of. the road, physical and natural barriers to be. provvided as close to the shore. as. possible.
Peripheral. sewerage syse\tem to be made. from Nishat to. Dal Gate. on the boulevard. side and Saida Kadal. to Nowpora on the western side. These areas would be connected to. the Sewage. Treatment. Plant. at Brari Nambal.
All encroachments. within the lake incluuding. buildings, floating gardens and vegetable. gardens will be removed. to limit the. shrinking open water areas.
Manual deweeding. tobe done along shore. line areas of Dal and Nigeen. Lake and. Mechanical deweeding. done. by departmental harvestors.
As a result of the keen interest shown by the state and central indian governments, Dal. lake was identifid as one of the lakes. under nationnal. programme for. conservation of. lakes. by the ministry of. environment and forest, government of. india.
The Urban Environmental Engineering Department of Kahsmir involved a firms to develop a technically viable. solutions for houuseboat sanitation since. all previous tests. failed. The main sewer was proposed to be provided. on the lake bed or hung. on buoys which. would. inturn lead to. a. collection. tank pumping it. into a. sewage treatment. plant constructed. at. brarinambal.
Simiilarly mulltiple projects were proposedfor. sewage t reatment. along the. lake periphery which. would connect to the maiin sewerage project of t he. greater Srinagar ciity.
At the time of this report. around 1486 kanals of land. hadbeen acquired. and an additional6099 kanals for the. western foreshore road.This was. only. phase I. of the initial proposed project. This rerport still. cnonsiders. the lake dwellers removal to be an important step tocurb the encroachment. and pollution within the. lake.and. rehabilitating them. in areas llike. Bota. Kadal, Panchkharwari, Agrobagh, Devdibagh, Guptganga, Habibullah Nowshehri. and Bemina
Human settlements within and. on the. periiphery of the lake. is. considered. to be one. of. the main contributing. factors of the enviironmental deterioration of the llake. While Enex reported. a population. of. 7500 people living wiithin the houseboat. area and an equual number outside. the area on boats etc. During 1971-1977 the population increased. by 25040 people wiithiin the cathcment area. There. has been a substaiintialpopulation growth living within. the. area since 1977.