Srinagar, October 18: Like thousands of fellow farmers, Safder Hussain rejects government order to relocate from Kashmir’s Dal Lake. “I live here and I will die here,” Hussain told.
Hussein has been living on the banks of the iconic lake, around which Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar is built.
For years they have eked out a tough but decent living, growing vegetables and fruit on floating “fields” made of reeds and composted weeds.
But this left its touch on the breath-taking Lake, which is slowly choking to death on sewage, silt and weeds.
The blue color of the lake water run brackish green with the effluent flushed directly into the lake from hotels and houses on the shore.
The wooden houseboats, build in the mid-19th century by British colonial officials, which were once seen as a complement to the lake’s beauty, stand now accused of accelerating its demise.
“Pesticides used by farmers find their way into the waters, causing colossal damage to fauna and flora,” said Ajaz Rasool, a government engineer involved in the preservation project.
“The dwellers also discharge all their waste into the water body.
“Shifting them is mandatory for saving this lake,” Rasool said.
The government issued orders for the 90,000 farmers and Lake dwellers to move from the area into new areas, citing efforts to preserve the lake.
It also allocated $230 million for the conservation effort, and the lion’s share of that is earmarked for the removal and rehousing of the floating farmers.
“We will do whatever it takes to preserve this lake,” said Nasir Aslam Wani, minister for preservation of water bodies in Kashmir.
Where to?
But the farmers accuse the government of depriving them from their only source of living.
“They only gave us a piece of land, nothing else,” said Malla Begum, a widower with four children who was among one of the first to take up the government offer.
Sharing his misery with other 1,300 who accepted the offer, Begum cut his family off from their main source of income.
“They didn’t give us a shop or a job,” said Begum.
“Our kids earn something and what little they earn, we eat at night.”
Seeing their fellows’ misery, remaining Kashmiris were more determined to reject the government relocation plans.
“Look, it’s simple. If I leave this lake, I’ll die of starvation,” said Mumtaz Hussain, a 65-year farmer.
“How will I earn? What will I eat?
“They should provide us jobs before moving us out,” he said.
-Agencies