Loss of Wetlands Behind Frequent Floods

Experts blame babus, politicians for the mess

SRINAGAR: Noted environmentalist, Dr Abdul Majid Kak Thursday said that the loss of wet lands of Kashmir valley aggravated the present flood situation. Holding bureaucrats and politicians responsible for the mess, he said that it is they who encouraged land  grabbers and never initiated serious action to check the unabated illegal constructions.

Kak told CNS that 50 per cent wet lands at Mirgund Hokarsar, and Anchar-Khoshhal Sar  have been encroached upon by people with the consent of bureaucrats and politicians. “The successive governments have miserably failed to preserve the wetlands like Wullar, Anchar, Dal , Nagin , Mansabal and other wetlands. These wetlands used to act as sponge and retained excessive waters. Flood threat will loom every time we receive excessive rains from March to September,” he said adding that the ecosystems of wetlands of Kashmir valley are under tremendous anthropomorphic pressure since more than four decades.

He said that in past Wullar and other lakes acted as a buffer for the flood in which water could be absorbed. “Human encroachments into the lakes are the chief reason for the lake shrinking. In the last 30 years, nearly 50 percent of the wetlands in the Kashmir valley have been encroached upon severely,” he said and added that Wullar has lost its capacity to regulate water flows leading to increased floods in valley.

The noted Environmentalist said that deforestation in the catchment areas of Jhelum and its tributaries has increased the siltation rate many time higher than the calculated rates, with the result Wullar has lost its capacity to store water leading to floods in the valley. Expressing concern over the unabated encroachments in Anchar Lake, he said that the area of the lake in 1893-94 was 19.54sq.km, and has now been reduced hardly to 6.8 sq.km of which 3.6 sq.km are marsh.

He said that the world famous Dal Lake has shrunk from 75 sq km to mere 11.56 sq km. There are more than 350 floating gardens which are known as “Radh” in Kashmiri. “With the consent of bureaucrats and LAWDA officials, people convert these floating water  gardens into dry land and with the passage of time hotels are constructed on such land. This is reality and it has happened in past and the process will continue till any government will not take serious measures to dismantle the illegal structures completely,” he said adding that illegal encroachments have even pushed Khushalsar to last throes and due to official negligence it has been squeezed to half.  (CNS)

The area of the Anchar lake in 1893-94 was 19.54sq.km, and has now been reduced to 6.8 sq.km of which 3.6 sq.km are marsh.

Land Mafia Eating Up Picturesque Mansbal 

BANDIPORE: The land in the peripheries of picturesque Mansbal Lake in District Bandipore is reeling under the threat of land mafia as every now and then incidents of illegal land encroachments, mostly government lands are coming to the fore.

Reports said that the government land measuring over ten thousand kanals located in the lap of Mansbal hillocks have been grabbed by vested interests, while despite repeated protest by locals, the district administration is in slumber, doing nothing to recover the occupied land.

“People used this pasture land to graze their cattle. Scores of fresh springs were present and all have vanished now as the land grabbers have filled them with soil,” said a local Ghulam Mustafa Reshi to CNS and added that even canal banks have been encroached by vested interests.

Reports said that scores of people from a particular village have done fencing of this government land and have even planted trees and constructed sheds there. Locals alleged that the land grabbers in league with Revenue officials have been eating up the picturesque land to fill their coffers.

When contacted a district administration official admitted that it is a serious issue and land needs to be recovered from the occupants. “Last time the people mostly females resisted our move tooth and nail when we tried to recover it. We will surely take this land back from the illegal occupants and initiate legal action against them,” he said.

Pertinently, the Jammu and Kashmir government recently admitted that there were 38,410 land encroachers who had illegally occupied 13,360 hectares of government land in all 22 districts of the state. 

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