The Kashmir division reeled under sub-zero night temperatures, with the weatherman forecasting dry weather to continue in the Valley over the next 24 hours. Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, witnessed a low of minus 2.8°C last night but it was Kupwara that was the coldest place in the Valley as the mercury dipped to minus 3.8°C, an official of the Meteorological Department said. Leh was the coldest in the Kashmir division, recording a low of minus 8°C while nearby Kargil town also witnessed extreme cold last night,…
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Environment
Gharana wetland plays host to migratory guests
Migratory birds have starting arriving at the Gharana wetland in the RS Pura sector. It becomes habitat for the birds from Siberia and Central Asia during the winter months. The wetland is 27 km away from Jammu and close to the international border (IB) with Pakistan. It attracts thousands of birds from Central Asia, China, Siberian Tundra, East Europe and New Zealand. Normally, birds arrive here in December and stay till February end. Though, the government has failed to save the area from encroachment despite Gharana becoming a conservation reserve…
Read MoreSrinagar records season’s coldest night, -2.7 degrees Celsius
Srinagar on Thursday recorded the coldest night of the season as the temperature dropped to minus 2.7 degrees Celsius while Banihal town was the coldest in the Jammu region at 2.5 degrees. “At minus 2.7 degrees Celsius, Srinagar recorded the coldest night temperature of this season so far. The minimum temperature was minus 4.0 in Pahalgam and minus 0.6 in Gulmarg today (Thursday),” an official of the MeT department told IANS. “Leh was, however, the coldest town in Jammu and Kashmir where the night temperature dropped to minus 7.8 degrees…
Read MoreCold tightens grip across Kashmir; Srinagar witnesses coldest night
Most places in Kashmir division continued to experience sub-zero temperatures as the cold is slowly tightening its grip, with the summer capital Srinagar witnessing the coldest night of the season so far. Srinagar experienced the coldest night of the season so far as the minimum temperature went further down from the previous night’s minus 1.9 degrees Celsius to settle at minus 2.3 degrees Celsius, an official of the Met Department here said. He said the night temperature in the city was continuously on a decline since the last few days…
Read MoreWular Lake: Can mistake that ruined majestic Kashmir lake be fixed?
Tucked within Kashmir’s Himalayan foothills sits a freshwater lake that was once among Asia’s largest. Long an inspiration to poets, beloved by kings, Wular Lake has been reduced in places to a fetid and stinking swamp. Just the sight of it makes Mohammed Subhan Dar feel sick. He admits he’s partly responsible. Dar was among dozens of villagers employed in the 1950s by the regional government to plant millions of water-sucking willows in the crystalline lake. The goal had been to create vast plantations for growing firewood and timber for…
Read MoreTemp drops below freezing point in parts of Kashmir
The cold has set in Kashmir as the minimum temperatures dipped below the freezing point in most places in the Valley, with the summer capital Srinagar registering the coldest night of the season so far. Srinagar recorded the lowest night temperature of the season so far as the minimum temperature at most places in Kashmir division dropped below freezing point, MET office said Sunday. The minimum temperature recorded in the city was minus 1.7 degrees Celsius – three degrees below the normal for this part of the season, making it…
Read MoreIndia sees Kashmir’s storied Wular Lake worth more restored
Tucked within Kashmir’s Himalayan foothills sits a freshwater lake that was once among Asia’s largest. Long an inspiration to poets, beloved by kings, Wular Lake has been reduced in places to a fetid and stinking swamp. Just the sight of it makes Mohammed Subhan Dar feel sick. He admits he’s partly responsible. Dar was among dozens of villagers employed in the 1950s by the regional government to plant millions of water-sucking willows in the crystalline lake. The goal had been to create vast plantations for growing firewood and timber for…
Read MoreTake steps to save Wular: Nazim-ud-din Bhat
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) senior leader and former MLA, Bandipore, Nazim-ud-din Bhat, today claimed that the Rs 360-crore project for the Wular Lake conservation had been wasted by criminal negligence of the Forest Department and through the diversion of funds from the actual developmental component. In a statement, Bhat expressed serious concern over the perpetual degradation and shrinking of Wular Lake-Asia’s largest fresh water lake. “The water level of the lake has gone down to an all-time low. The lake is virtually presenting a look of a water body carrying…
Read MoreSummer ends, Gloomy winter knocks on door
The sprawling civil secretariat in Srinagar, headquarters of the state government in the summer capital, is shut and the bureaucracy has been moved to warmer Jammu, the winter capital, for the next six months. It is, officially, winter in Kashmir. As the region moves past a violent summer, consumed by the lengthiest spell of shutdowns and almost daily protests since July 8, the Kashmir valley is heading for a gloomy winter. The state administration has started taking stock of essential supplies required in the winter months, which have witnessed erratic…
Read MoreIIT Roorkee preparing plan for Dal Lake preservation
The government today informed the Jammu and Kashmir High Court that the vision document for the preservation of the Dal Lake was being prepared by the IIT-Roorkee and would be received by the J&K Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) soon. In its status report, LAWDA has given details of 14 persons whose illegal constructions have been demolished by it. “LAWDA to file report of further action taken in accordance with law against these violators,” the High Court said in its directions today. Meanwhile, the High Court today asked the…
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