Category: Environment

Environment

Amid unrest, Illegal constructions galore in Dal Lake

Editor

8 FIRs registered in 16 days: Authorities Amid unrest in Kashmir, unabated illegal structures are coming up in and around the Dal Lake. Unscrupulous persons are taking undue advantage of the situation and are constructing illegal structures during night. Reports said illegal structures are coming up at Tailbal, Saida Kadal, Harvan, Nigeen, Nishat, Shalimar, Kanitar, Rainawari and its adjoining areas. “The construction material to these places is ferried in trucks and load carriers during night. Most of the constructions are undertaken during night. The illegal structures don’t only come up…

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Illegal constructions galore in Srinagar amid unrest

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SMC, SDA express ‘Helplessness’  With the government men and machinery “busy” controlling the the ongoing unrest, scores of people have again started carrying out illegal constructions and riverside encroachments in most of the parts of summer capital Srinagar. According to eyewitness illegal construction work is going on in the Sheikh-ul-Alam Colony in Ahmad Nagar Soura in City outskirts. However the SMC, SDA and Police officials have failed to report to the ground citing the ongoing unrest as one of the main reasons. Same reports of illegal encroachments were also received…

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Taking advantage of unrest, land mafia has field day in Dal

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Taking undue advantage of prevailing law and order situation in Kashmir, land mafia is having a field day to encroach upon Dal lake. Reports said that from past few days some, people have encroached various portions of Dal Lake at Jogilankar, Rainawari and adjacent areas. Illegal structures are also coming up at Brein, Nishat, Shalimar and its adjacent areas. “Encroachers are also constructing houses, shops and walls on the encroached land. Land filling of the lake is also going on at various places,” they said. The ongoing encroachment and construction…

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Slow pace of Wullar conservation work irks Chief Minister

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Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today expressed unhappiness over slow pace of conservation work of Wullar, Asia’s largest freshwater lake, and asked the officials to deploy more men and machinery to finish the work within deadline. Desilting effort launched under the comprehensive Wullar Conservation and Management Plan (WCMP) needs greater impetus to increase the water holding capacity of the lake, she said during a review meeting of Wullar Conservation and Management Authority (WUCMA) here. “The ongoing conservation and protection measures for eco- restoration of Wullar Lake, its feeder channels, associated wetlands…

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SPCB caught napping as illegal crusher units come up in Bandipora

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State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) seems to have gone in deep slumber as the growth of illegal crusher units, mixing and macadam plants in and around the fragile forest and aquatic ecosystem in Bandipora has risen to an alarming level. SPCB remained in dark till many agencies and individuals set up over half a dozen crusher units across the forest line in Bandipora. Even few crusher units have been illegally installed in close proximity of the restricted aquatic habitat of trout streams. Though the forest department had acted many a…

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Officials ‘facilitate’ construction of hut in Aru Wildlife zone

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In brazen violation of norms, the Pahalgam Development Authority (PDA) here is facilitating construction of a hut by an influential person in Aru wildlife zone. The Supreme Court ruling of 2005 clearly prohibits any sort of construction in the wildlife sanctuaries. “A hut is now coming up near the fisheries hut right on the banks of Lidder river,” an official said. He said that the influential person who has acquired the land in the wildlife zone has already raised a muddy structure in connivance with PDA officials. “The motive is…

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Wular Lake shrinking due to human settlement: Govt

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Government on Monday admitted that Wular Lake has been shrinking due to illegal human settlement over the past few decades. In a written reply to Zafar Iqbal Manhas, Minister for Forests, Choudhary Lal Singh said the net demarcated area of Wular Lake is 130 square kilometres, out of which an area of approximately one square kilometre is under illegal human settlements for the past few decades. “The Wular Lake receives approximately 80 percent water from rivers and streams from the south, central and most parts of North Kashmir. The water…

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‘Hindustan Construction Company polluting our water resources’

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Bandipora village bears costs of Kishanganga Power Project Inhabitants of a Bandipora village are up in arms against Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) for polluting the water resources of the area. Residents of Pazalpora village told Kashmir POST that the company has polluted the main source of water from where the water is supplied to the village for drinking purpose. “Since the work on construction of the 330 megawatt Kishanganga power project started the water resources of the area either started depleting or they got polluted by the heavy machinery used…

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Srinagar records season’s hottest day, Heat wave on in Jammu

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Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar on Sunday recorded this season’s highest temperature at 33.5 degrees while the heat wave continued in Jammu where it was 35 degrees. “The maximum temperature in Srinagar was 33.5 degrees Celsius, three degrees above average, which is the highest recorded so far this season. Jammu city recorded 35 degrees as the heat wave continued there unabated,” a Met department official told IANS. “There would be some relief from sweltering heat in Srinagar during the next two to three days although we are not expecting…

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In defence of Kashmir’s unpopular poplars

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Mathematician Fozia Qazi has undertaken a campaign to protect the trees that are in danger of being axed in large numbers in the valley. With around 16 million poplar trees facing the axe in Kashmir Valley following a High Court order, noted mathematician Fozia S. Qazi has started a campaign to “dispel the myths” that led to the systematic felling of the trees synonymous with the Valley landscape for decades. In 2014, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court first banned the sale, purchase and plantation of female Russian poplars (Populus…

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