Manmohan Singh govt.’s plan to relocate Dal Lake dwellers shelved; families to stay on the lake

The Jammu and Kashmir government has abandoned the ₹416.72-crore resettlement plan for Dal Lake dwellers. To a question from National Conference (NC) legislator Tanvir Sadiq, it told the J&K Assembly that the project achieved “only 27% progress” in 17 years.

The plan was conceived by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress leader Sonia Gandhi to preserve and restore the lake, which attracts tourists from across the globe. The Singh government approved the plan in 2009.

The project sought to relocate and rehabilitate around 9,000 families from the Dal Lake ecosystem to tackle growing pollution, mitigate impact on aquatic life and preserve the shrinking lake.

‘Eco-hamlets’

However, in the face of poor implementation of the plan and inability to offer basic infrastructure at the location of resettlement, the J&K government has decided that “58 existing hamlets within the Dal Lake will be developed as ‘eco-hamlets’.”

“Work on six hamlets has already been taken up under the UT Capex budget, with one – Kachri Mohalla – already completed as a modern village,” the J&K government told the Assembly.

According to the new plan, an in-situ conservation model will replace the old scheme, and “residents will be allowed to stay in ‘eco-hamlets’ developed within the water body”.

The shift in the policy has come in the wake of a report submitted by a high-level committee, headed by the Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir, last year. It described the Dal Lake dwellers as an “integral part of the lake ecosystem”. The committee called for the continued stay of these dwellers on the lake, while also stating that it was “equally important to keep it [the lake] vibrant, dynamic and lively”.

New project awaits final approval

The government claimed that a sewerage network for six hamlets had been laid, and detailed project reports for modular sewage treatment plants were under preparation. A ₹212.38-crore project, named ‘Integrated Management Programme for conservation of Dal-Nigeen Lake ecosystem’, had been accepted in principle by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, it said.

The five-year project aimed to address sewerage in 28 internal hamlets, treat inflow from catchment areas and dredge interior channels, the reply stated, adding that it awaited the final approval from the Finance Department.

Under the ManmohanSingh government’s plan, 7,526 kanals of land were acquired at Bemina in the outskirts of Srinagar, and the colony was named Rakh-e-Arth Resettlement Colony. Each Dal Lake dweller was issued a land plot, ₹1.05 lakh for structure and ₹3.91 lakh as one-time compensation. However, the project re-settled only 1,808 families of around 9,000 Dal lake families, officials said.