Category: Environment

Environment

India sees Kashmir’s storied Wular Lake worth more restored

Editor

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 More

Take steps to save Wular: Nazim-ud-din Bhat

Editor

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 More

Summer ends, Gloomy winter knocks on door

Editor

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 More

IIT Roorkee preparing plan for Dal Lake preservation

Editor

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 More

Police get HC nod to probe case against Ajatshatru

Editor

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 More

In cold unrest, warm Autumn hues go unnoticed

Editor

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…

Read More

Baglihar HEP putting lives at risk in Doda region

Editor

Govt in slumber as threat of mountain collapse looms large over area along the banks The Jammu and Kashmir Government seems to be in deep slumber in addressing the woes of people living on the bank of the Baglihar hydroelectric project reservoir as the threat of mountain collapse looms large over the area. Stagnant water of the reservoir, after entering the loose soil, is bringing down rocks and soil slowly, which has created a situation which can lead to sinking of a huge portion of the mountains. Geological experts have…

Read More

‘People taking advantage of unrest, making encroachments, doing timber smuggling’

Editor

J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Tuesday said “certain people are taking advantage” of the ongoing situation in Kashmir and “making encroachments and indulging in timber smuggling.” Mehbooba said while protests were going on and processions taken out, “many people, taking advantage of the situation, are making encroachments, especially along Dal Lake and are also involved in timber smuggling thinking that the government’s focus is somewhere else .” She was addressing a gathering after inaugurating Indira Gandhi Dental College here. “Situation is so worse in Kashmir and the government is…

Read More

Timber Smugglers, Encroachers take advantage of Kashmir Unrest

Editor

Taking undue advantage of current unrest, timber smuggling in Kashmir has reached alarming levels as reports of felling of trees is pouring in from every corner of the valley. According to officials there are reports of trees being chopped down in Doodganaga range, Rithan range, Beerwah range, Kothar range, Tangmarg, Rafiabad, Doabgah range and Kandi range, Ganderbal and in some areas of Shopian-Pulwama. The smugglers have become emboldened to the extent that they are openly attacking forest officials. On July 31 when Forester Mohammed Maqsood Rather took his small team…

Read More

Stop illegal construction around Dal Lake: Hurriyat

Editor

The reports of unauthorised and illegal constructions coming up at various places especially on the Dal and foreshore road is a cause of concern. Moderate Hurriyat Conference headed by Mirwaiz Umar Farooq on Tuesday warned those indulging in illegal constructions in and around Dal Lake in Srinagar under the garb of ongoing unrest to stop their activities immediately. The reports of unauthorised and illegal constructions coming up at various places especially on the Dal and foreshore road is a cause of concern. We warn such people to stop their activities…

Read More