Srinagar (NVI): Hopes have been rekindled about restoration and preservation of Dal Lake, a world famous site in this city of Jammu and Kashmir which has been suffering because of encroachments and unhygienic conditions.
The Jammu and Kashmir High Court has directed that the registration/renewal of houseboats/guesthouse/hotels/restaurants shall be subject to a certification by the owners that they have removed all unauthorized and illegal structures which have been constructed by them.
The undertakings will be verified by the Land and Water Development Authority (LAWDA), ruled a two-member High Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Gita Mittal and including Justice Sindhu Sharma.
The court directed that all authorities shall ensure that proper follow up reports with regard to all the action points noted by the Committee of Experts constituted by the J&K High Court to restore and preserve the world-famous Dal Lake, are drawn up as pointed out in several orders placed before the Committee of Experts within six weeks.
The Bench directed the Secretary, Tourism Department, to place the final draft of the guidelines for registration/renewal of registration of houseboats before the Committee of Experts for their examination and recommendations which shall be placed before the Chief Secretary of the UT of J&K for taking a final view in the matter.
The order directs the Department of Tourism to get examined with the Committee of Experts a request received from the Kashmir Houseboat Owners Association enclosing a list of 110 houseboat owners who are willing to surrender the registration certificates of their houseboat units in lieu of rehabilitation.
It says that a scheme be evolved with regard to those persons who have surrendered registrations.
The bench observed that it is heartening to note that the Department of Tourism has completed the GIS tagging/physical mapping of the houseboats, as also of 273 hotels and guest houses in the Dal Lake with the technical assistance provided by the Remote Sensing Organization, Srinagar.
It directed Director, Remote Sensing Organization, to take immediate steps and ensure that the entire data is appropriately uploaded on the official website.
The court observed that the Dal Lake is a focal point of visit by all visitors to Kashmir and lakhs of tourists, both international and domestic, visit and spend a large amount of time in and around this water body.
However, the court noted that there are no public conveniences available around the Dal Lake to facilitate for the convenience of the visiting public and there appears to be inadequate arrangements for garbage disposal as well.
Therefore the LAWDA and the Srinagar Municipal Corporation shall immediately identify appropriate points and take steps for creation of public toilets and Action taken reports be filed before the next date of hearing.
The bench said it also finds that several complaints have been made of unauthorized construction which needs to be continuously scrutinized.
It is, therefore, essential to have all existing structures video-graphed as well as photographed and a record maintained thereof.
The bench said the Principal District Judge, Srinagar has already been appointed as a Nodal Officer and is directed to video-graph and photograph all buildings and structures in and around the Dal Lake and also plot the same on a site plan.
