Houseboats lining by the fashionable Boulevard will soon have a new address in the famed Dal Lake.
Waking up to the environmental crisis, the Jammu and Kashmir high court has directed the state government to shift the houseboats gracing Boulevard road to Doldum area in a bid to save the Dal Lake from pollutants.
Doldum is a 300 kanal (20 kanal make one hectare) land mass inside Dal Lake marked by J&K Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) as an exclusive site for the houseboats with eco-friendly amenities.
“We want to develop an exclusive area that will promote high end tourists for houseboats. Second we want to solve the sanitation issues. Whatever the toilet waste they (houseboats) generate goes into lake presently. We will be connecting the houseboats to the sewerage treatment plant by the pipes so that the waste is treated,” Irfan Yasin, vice-chairman of LAWDA, told dna.
Increasing habitation, lack of waste management, massive sewerage flow and increasing human pressure is silently killing the lake. Enter the new revival plan, LAWDA plans to develop Doldum which will have eco-friendly amenities so that the lake could be saved from pollution. “On both sides of the island we are going to develop green areas. We will be making the walkways which will have the battery driven cars to manoeuvre,” said Irfan.
The plan will be the part of Rs654 crore ‘Save Dal Project’ to conserve the lake for posterity. Officials said there are two components of the project — Rs298 crore for conservation and Rs 356 crore for rehabilitation of around 60,000 people living in 58 hamlets inside the lake.
Official figures reveal that there are around 600 houseboats in Dal Lake alone and 200 others in Nigeen and Jhelum. Most of the houseboats do not have any system to treat the waste which goes into the lake.
Doldum can accommodate 386 houseboats and those lining by the Boulevard are planned to be shifted so that the glory of lake is restored. “Houseboat owners had told the court that they will move 300 feet backwards and align in a row from the location (as an alternative to shifting to Doldum project). But they could not do it,” said Irfan.
Houseboat owners, however, are planning to appeal the high court’s direction in the Supreme Court. “It (Doldum) is a place fraught with dangers. If there are strong winds our houseboats can fly like match sticks,” said Mohammad Azim Tuman. chairman, Kashmir Houseboat Owners Association.
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