Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed Vice Chairman LAWDA to draw a complete scheme for the management and the development of the Dal Lake as well as the area around it even as it disbanded various committees formed previously.
Hearing a Public Interest Litigation, a division bench of Chief Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Vinod Chatterji Koul also directed the Vice Chairman to survey and prepare a list of all the drains that are flowing into the Lake and take immediate steps stop it.
“Notwithstanding the submissions made by the respective parties, we find that the various Committees which have been formed earlier are not of much use in the present and that when a development authority (LAWDA) has especially been created and established for the purpose, the entire responsibility should be shifted upon it and the authority alone should be allowed to work out a broad scheme for solving all the problems in connection with the Dal,” the division bench said. Accordingly, the court directed that henceforth all the Committees created in the past stand disbanded. Fresh committee or committees would be constituted, if necessary in future, the court said.
“We direct the Vice Chairman LAWDA to draw a complete scheme for the management and the development of the Dal as well as the area around it in co-association with the various departments and to submit the same before the Court by the next date.” The court said, adding, “The Vice Chairman is also directed to survey and prepare a list of all the drains that are flowing into the Dal and to take immediate steps that the drain water and the affluents are not discharged into the Dal and proper arrangements are made by the Department concerned for the treatment of the sewage or the drain water in sufficient number of plants established at proper places.”
The court said that an exercise may also be undertaken to find out if the waste material from any houseboat is being discharged into the lake and if so, to take measures to stop it or to divert it to some alternative place.
“The LAWDA would formulate a scheme for the development and the beautification of the Char Chinar and to ensure the security thereon.”
The court also reiterated in line with its earlier orders, “no construction activities in the Dal or in the area of the Dal or the prohibited area shall be permitted subject to the condition as may have been imposed from time to time and steps would be taken for the removal of all the encroachments.”
It also directed that appropriate measures be taken for the traffic management in and around the Dal area, especially on the Boulevard Road and the Jetty at Nehru Park. (GNS)
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