380 Dal houseboats yet to be relocated

Ishfaq Tantry

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, September 1

The project involving the relocation of houseboats, which serve as one of the main attractions for the tourists visiting the Dal Lake in Srinagar, has been stuck for years due to the delay in acquisition of land by the authorities.

Under the project, which is being monitored by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, 380 houseboats anchored in the lake are to be relocated to another apart of the lake called Doldrum. The aim of the exercise is to primarily enhance the water expanse of the lake, besides preventing pollution.

The project has not taken off due to slow pace of land acquisition in the Dol Demb area, where the houseboats will be anchored in five clusters after their relocation and will also be connected to a sewage treatment plant.

The relocation is being done to prevent pollution in the lake and to supervise the state government’s efforts to conserve the lake.

The High Court had on October 29, 2011, directed the houseboat owners to shift their houseboats by 300 feet from the Boulevard Road, which forms the periphery of the lake.

As the houseboat owners relented despite having given an undertaking to the court, the Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) later proposed to shift the houseboats in a phased manner to the Dol Demb area, another location in the Dal Lake.

In October 2015, the Housing and Urban Development Department had submitted a detailed project report of Rs 29.50 crore to the government for approval to execute the much-awaited relocation of the houseboats.

Sources said the relocation process was stuck only due to issues involving land acquisition.

Senior High Court lawyer and amicus advocate Zaffar Shah also said that earlier the LAWDA did not have its own collector, which delayed the acquisition of land and other structures at Dol Demb.

“Now that the LAWDA has got its own collector, I hope the project of relocation of houseboats takes off,” Shah said.

LAWDA vice-chairman Abdul Hafiz said: “Ever since I have taken over the reins of LAWDA, I have asked the collector to expedite the process of land acquisition and that of structures in a time-bound manner in the Dol Demb area so that the process of relocation of the houseboats is completed.”

Lake decongestion

• The relocation of 380 houseboats is aimed at decongesting the Dal Lake from Dal Gate to the Nehru Park area and to expand the lake’s water expanse in this stretch
• The houseboats at the new location can also be approached through Nishat Pipeline Bund, which is being developed as a walkway