Operation Shikara

It is often the case with environmental threats that commercial interests in the target area,required to comply with legal prescriptions,are hard hit in the short term. But if they don’t comply,they stand to lose immeasurably more in the long run. A classic instance of the problem is the predicament of houseboat owners on Srinagar’s Dal Lake. A February 26 Jammu and Kashmir high court order makes the houseboats inoperable if they don’t treat and dispose of sewage properly,and the Lakes and Waterways Development Authority has ordered houseboat owners to stop operations or face closure. But they are unwilling to invest in cleaning up their act because of the costs involved.

The Dal Lake is infested with pollutants reportedly six to eight times higher than the limits permitted by the Central Pollution Control Board. Of late,there has had to be de-weeding of the lake. Additionally,human encroachment has been partly responsible for the curtailment of the Dal’s surface area from 75 sq km to less than 12 sq km. Reduced inflow is silting up the lake as are the changes in the catchment area. Party to the “killers” of the lake are the famous houseboats that have enticed tourists for generations,just as they once housed civil servants of the Raj.

The houseboats on the Dal are a cultural symbol of Kashmir. Through the decade and more of militancy,tourism in the state had died out,only to be resurrected in the last few years. Houseboat owners now fear that the court order will further jeopardise their business,already hit by the Amarnath row. It is not that their pleas don’t evoke sympathy. The boats,for instance,need annual maintenance and the costs thereof are high. Nevertheless,the owners of the 1200 registered boats have ignored the PCB’s prescriptions about waste disposal for years. They had better comply,or else there may not be a lake left for their boats.