SRINAGAR: A detailed government response tabled in the Jammu Kashmir Assembly has revealed significant spending on the conservation and restoration of Dal and Nigeen lakes over the past two years, with the Lake Conservation and Management Authority (LCMA) executing a wide range of works, from dredging and de-weeding to installation of sewage systems and solid waste management. However, the document also highlights a stark administrative gap between projects in Kashmir and those in Jammu, particularly in the representation and welfare of reserved categories, where Jammu continues to lead by a wide margin.
According to official data presented in response to an un-starred question by MLA Tanvir Sadiq, the Housing and Urban Development Department spent Rs 38.39 crore in 2023–24 and Rs 31.50 crore in 2024-25 on Dal and Nigeen lakes. The works ranged from extraction of lily pads and floating gardens to dredging and widening of major navigation and outflow channels. The projects also included solid waste management from houseboats and commercial establishments inside the lakes, maintenance of sewage treatment plants at Lam, Hazratbal, Brarinumbal, and Nallah Amir Khan, and installation of online effluent monitoring systems.
The government said that large-scale manual and mechanical de-weeding operations were carried out along the entire shoreline and interior channels of Dal and Nigeen. Over 30 navigation and outflow channels were dredged, widened, and deepened between SKICC and Rainawari, while several periphery beautification projects were taken up — including green spaces, jetties, eco-parks, and guard sheds at Nishat and Gupt Ganga.
In addition, catchment area treatment works were executed in Harwan, Dara, Khimber, Chatterhama, and Faqir Gujree, involving check dams, barbed-wire fencing, and plantation drives to stabilise soil erosion. LCMA has also developed significant infrastructure, including 65 dancing aerators, six clusters of fountains, 16 sewage pumping stations, and nearly a dozen parks and eco-development sites along the lake’s northern foreshore.
The report further lists 562 kanals of land acquired in Chandpora, 575 kanals along the Northern Foreshore Road, and more than 9,400 kanals of land mass and water body area now under LCMA control. It also maintains a fleet of machinery including weed harvesters, dredgers, cranes, barges, dumpers, motorboats, and fuel bowsers for regular upkeep of the lake ecosystem.
In reply to another question, the government confirmed that Khushalsar and Gilsar lakes have recently been brought under LCMA’s control through Government Order No. 51-JK(HUD) of March 15, 2025, though no expenditure has yet been made on their restoration.
While the extensive detailing of Dal-Nigeen conservation projects underscores the administration’s ongoing environmental commitments in Srinagar, the larger demographic and policy discussion emerging from the Assembly — particularly concerning the representation of reserved categories — points to a deeper imbalance. Government data presented during the same session indicates that Jammu region continues to have a far higher share of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, and Other Backward Class populations, compared with Kashmir, which lags substantially behind in all three categories.
This disparity has not only shaped the structure of government employment and educational reservations but has also influenced the region’s development priorities. Lawmakers from Kashmir have argued that such demographic differences must be addressed through compensatory policies that recognise the region’s specific social and geographical challenges.
As the Housing and Urban Development Department continues its multi-crore restoration drive across Kashmir’s water bodies, the debate in the Assembly has once again drawn attention to the uneven distribution of benefits and opportunities between the two regions — a contrast that extends beyond environmental investment to the very structure of social representation in Jammu Kashmir.
