Jammu: The Urban Development and Forest Ministry of Jammu and Kashmir has prepared a plan to protect the Dal Lake, which is facing a threat to its existence. It has a waste treatment and water-harvesting plan for the hotels around the water body, meant to check the dumping of sewage into it and to meet their water needs.

Dal is a traditional tourist attraction. It has figured in many books, the latest of them being Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie. It was featured also in his Booker Prize-winning Midnight's Children in 1981.

Its area has shrunk to 12 sq km from 20 sq km in the last century. This has been a source of concern for environmentalists.

The main cause of the degradation are the hotels around the Boulevard which came up during the last few decades, and the houseboats. Principally this is due to the poor water supply and sewerage system on the periphery of the lake. Pollution raises the phosphoric content in the lake, encouraging weed growth.

In order to check the fall in water level, the Government has come up with a water-harvesting plan. This envisages making the hotels around the lake self-sufficient in terms of water. Despite strict orders against pumping out water from the Dal, it happens routinely.

Urban Development and Forest Minister Tariq Hameed Karra said: "My priority is to protect the Dal... We will provide hotels on its periphery infrastructure support for water-harvesting, by installing machinery... A waste treatment plant will be provided. This way the hotels, like many hotels in other parts of the country, can harvest and use rainwater.

The pollution of the water body from sewage will be taken care of by installing waste treatment plants." The Minister said the Government has been given Rs. 300 crores to save the Dal and the funds will be utilised for the purpose.

Post-1989, the houseboats have recorded low occupancy levels, whereas the hotels around the Dal have remained full as most of them were taken on rent by the Estates Department to house Government employees as the area was considered relatively risk-free.

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