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…
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Environment
Cold 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…
Read MorePolice get HC nod to probe case against Ajatshatru
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court today directed the police go ahead and investigate a case registered against sitting BJP Member Legislative Council Ajatshatru Singh, alleged to have carried out illegal construction in the protected greenbelt area around the Dal Lake in the Gupkar area of Srinagar. The High Court also directed the retired Sessions Judge, appointed to probe the complaint against Sports Minister Imran Raza Ansari, to complete his investigation in five weeks. The directions were passed today by a division bench of Justice Muzaffar Hussain Attar and Justice…
Read MoreIn cold unrest, warm Autumn hues go unnoticed
The arrival of autumn in Kashmir has gone unnoticed. There are no favourite spots to click pictures. The mighty chinars in Naseem Bagh are lonely. There is no rush of people. The lovers of autumn are invisible in the unending turmoil in Kashmir. Basira Ahmad, 24, who has grown up around the western shores of the Dal Lake in the Dargah Hazratbal locality, nestled in hundreds of mighty chinar trees and known as Naseem Bagh, says the spot, which would normally be filled with visitors during autumn, is silent and…
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