Dal Lake area to be eco-sensitive zone

Tribune News Service

Jammu/Srinagar, November 8

The UT administration has decided to declare world-famous Dal Lake and its surrounding areas as a “eco-sensitive zone”.

In the context, the administration has constitution a high-level panel to finalise the draft of the notification within a month time.

The 10-member committee will be headed by the Chief Conservator of Forests, Kashmir. The Director, Tourism, Kashmir, Vice-chairman of J&K Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA), Director, Industries and Commerce, Kashmir, Commissioner, Srinagar Municipal Corporation, Regional Wildlife Warden, Kashmir, Regional Director, J&K State Pollution Control Board, Kashmir, Director, Agriculture, Kashmir, and Chief Town Planner, Kashmir, and representative of the Department of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs will be the members of the panel.

“The committee shall be serviced by the Housing and Urban Development Department. The committee shall finalise the draft notification within a period of one month,” a government order issued in this regard said.

The J&K Lakes and Waterways Development Authority, which looks after the Dal Lake, has banned construction within 200 metres from the water body.

According to a report, the area of the Dal Lake has shrunk to 24 sq km from 31 sq km and the lake has witnessed significant changes in land use and cover, apart from increasing human population.