A small pedestrian road leads to the Dar mohalla, Dhobighat on the banks of Dal Lake. Around 60 houses are built in this small piece of land illegally. The people living here are fishermen. The residents of this place were previously living in small boats in and around Dal Lake.

The Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) had moved them from the lake but did not provide any rehabilitation. One of the residents of this mohalla Haji Ghulam Mohammad Dar, a fisherman said “We were told to move from our boats and go to a new place to live. We were not provided any land to built our houses on,”

The people living here though claim that they have paid for this land and are not illegally living here. “We bought this whole land from Shawls and Sofis who were owners of the land plots here. We sold jewellery of our women folk to buy this land. We have legal papers for the land as well,” said President of this mohalla, Haji Mohammad Jamal. “The LAWDA people didn’t provide us rehabilitation of any kind. We started our whole life ourselves here,”

The residents said that they were ready to move to another place as they realize their mohalla is a major source of pollution to the Dal. “We will move to some other place provided the government gives us land and jobs,” said another resident Jamal Dar. “We are concerned with fishing and it is our bread. If we are made to shift to some other place we should not be left jobless,”

... contd.