Disappointed over the slow pace of cleaning and de-weeding of the iconic Dal Lake in Srinagar, Governor NN Vohra on Tuesday ordered satellite mapping of the entire lake area once every month.

Vohra has been taking interest in cleaning of the Dal Lake that has considerably shrunk because of unchecked growth of weeds and encroachments. Vohra, who reviewed the ongoing conservation, management and rehabilitation schemes of the Dal and Nageen lakes in Srinagar, ordered that cleaning of Dal Lake must commence immediately, but no later than 25 July.

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AH Shah, Vice Chairman, Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) was directed to formulate a concrete proposal for effective sewage disposal of 900 House Boats, assess capacity of existing STPs against total of the existing demand and determine the number and capacity of all those who had encroached on the Lake, list all issues regarding relocation of all those who had encroached on the Lake, list all those who have been rehabilitated but have returned to the Lake and prepare a list of all buildings sanctioned since 1 January 2017.

Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir, was directed to initiate identification and removal of all Dal dwellers who after receiving compensation were still living in their previous habitations. He shall also immediately prepare a list of fresh encroachments and master plan violations within the entire Dal Lake area.

Governor directed K. B. Aggarwal, Financial Commissioner, housing and urban development department, to implement on time bound basis the State Administrative Council’s decision regarding procurement and hiring of lake cleaning machinery. Aggarwal apprised the Governor regarding the importance of construction of a Western Foreshore Road for permanent prevention of ingress and delineation of western Boundary of the Lake.

Governor asked the Chief Secretary BVR Subramanyam to review all issues pertaining to preservation of Dal Lake and specially examine the economic viability of the proposal for the construction of 20,000 dwelling units at Rakh-i-Arth for Dal dwellers, to be executed by the J&K Housing Board in the PPP mode.

Among those present in the meeting were, BB Vyas, Advisor to Governor; BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Umang Narula, Principal Secretary to Governor; Navin Choudhary, Principal Secretary, Finance; Baseer Khan, Divisional Commissioner Kashmir; SP Pani, IGP Kashmir and Dr. A.R. Yousuf, Chairman, Scientific Advisory Committee.