Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti today expressed unhappiness over slow pace of conservation work of Wullar, Asia's largest fresh water lake, and asked the officials to deploy more men and machinery to finish the work within deadline.
Desilting effort launched under the comprehensive Wullar Conservation and Management Plan (WCMP) needs greater impetus to increase the water holding capacity of the lake, she said during a review meeting of Wullar Conservation and Management Authority (WUCMA) here.
"The ongoing conservation and protection measures for eco- restoration of Wullar Lake, its feeder channels, associated wetlands and marshes should gain momentum in view of the devastating floods that struck Kashmir in September 2014, Mehbooba said.
Underlining the importance of Wullar, the Chief Minister said the Lake not only acts as a huge water storage reservoir but also provides natural way out for the excess or flood waters in Jhelum and it needs to be protected and conserved at all costs.
"It is a wetland of international importance as it has been declared a Ramsar site for conservation," she said and called for deployment of more men and machinery on the project to finish it within a set time-frame.
She called for approaching the Dredging Corporation of India for dredging the lake on a large scale.
The Chief Minister, however, stressed the need for creating alternative economic and employment avenues--by promoting sheep farming, dairying, fisheries--for the local population affected by the conservation project.
Under the 13th Finance Commission, Rs 60 crore were sanctioned and released for taking up conservation and protection measures in Wullar Lake, an official spokesman said quoting information revealed at the meeting.
Till date, Rs 45.39 crore have been utilised for survey and demarcation, catchment conservation and water management of Wullar Lake including de-silting, he said.
The spokesman said the entire periphery of the lake had been demarcated as per authentic revenue record which indicates lake area of 130 sq kms, of which 27-square kms of lake area is "critically silted".
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"As many as 1,159 geo-tagged boundary pillars have been erected delineating lake boundary from the adjoining areas," the spokesman said.
He said, so far, dredging operation in around 10 lakh cubic metres areas of the lake's critically silted areas and its vital feeder channel (Naaz Nallah) have been done.
"This has enhanced the water holding capacity of the lake significantly over an area of more than 1 sq km, he said.
Besides, around 26,000 willow trees have been removed from the Lake area, the spokesman said, adding measures to arrest soil erosion in the catchment area have been taken by erecting check dams and protection banks and planting over three lakh conifers in the adjoining forest area.
The Chief Minister also discussed future funding requirements of the project and directed to the Forest Department to submit a proposal that would ensure uninterrupted funding to accomplish the remaining operations for conservation of Wullar Lake as per the Detailed Project Report (DPR), the spokesman said.
The meeting was also apprised about various steps initiated by the WUCMA to control pollution to the Lake by means of direct flow of the harmful wastes and human excreta into the lake.
