Features & Articles

Dying Wetlands of Kashmir
Article written by Haroon Rasheed

"Two-third of the wetlands of Kashmir have vanished in the last 50 years." The writing on the billboard of the Wild Life Conservation Department of Kashmir should not be interpreted that the department is now fully conscious about the need to take urgent steps to conserve the remaining wetlands of Kashmir. Nothing of the sort. The wetlands of Kashmir have been left at the mercy of God, and every official of the department, from lowest to the highest, knows and admits that if nothing is done by the government in this regard, five years from now the billboard of the department would read-" All the wetlands of Kashmir have vanished in the last 55 years."

The Rakh Haigam wetland, lying 50 kilometers north of Srinagar, is a living example of the government neglect towards wetlands. When 75-year old Mukhta Dar, who has spent the most of his life in caring this wetland, tells about its splendid past, the narration reads like a fairy tale. Today nobody would believe what Mukhta Dar is talking about the same Haigam wetland.

According to Mukhta Dar, the Haigam wetland had a depth of around 10 feet as against its present one to two & a half feet. During pre-partition days, Mukhta Dar says, that Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu Kashmir, Maharaja of Indore, Patiala and many other kings from southern India used to visit the wetland for hunting the water birds. Today even even the low ranking officials of the forest department do not visit it.

In 70s, the Sportsmen And Conservation Club, a non-governmental organization was formed to promote conservation of wild life and wetlands, is also disappointed at the apathy of the government in this matter. Says, Khizar Mohammad Kotru, an active club member "We are ready to offer our services to save the wetlands on voluntary basis but the governments attitude is frosty." According to him the club has presented a memorandum to the Ministry of Forests and Environment detailing some proposals for conservation of the wetlands but there is no response from the government till date.

The condition of another wetland, Hokersar, on the Srinagar-Baramulla road in north Kashmir,about 15 kilometres from Srinagar is only slightly different. Since the wetland lies quite close to the summer capital Srinagar, the government does take some care of this wetland. However, the forester Ghulam Mohammad Bakshi, the- in- charge of this wetland, is not satisfied with the level of attention. According to him the wetland would die out in next 5-6 years unless necessary preventive steps are taken urgently.

What are the reasons for this increasing threat to the wetlands of Kashmir? According Ghulam Hasan Butt, an official posted at the Haigam wetland, "the government is aware of both the ailment and its remedy." According to him, biggest ailment is not doing anything even being aware of the ailment. The root-cause of the problem, is the three nallahs (water streams) namely Balkol, Nangli and Doodhganga, entering directly into these wetlands Everybody, right from a common man to environmental experts and forest officials, agrees that the Haigam and Hokersar marshes are in danger due to these three nallahs. Mohammad Ramzan Dar, Assistant Conservator of the Wild Life Department says, "These three nallahs bring a huge quantity of silt which has reduced the depth of Haigam and Hokersar wetlands besides increasing compactness at their bottoms".

Whether the government is not aware of the problem? One would be surprised to know that Mr. Dar had cautioned his department about this dangerous situation three years ago, however, nothing has been done so far. Mr. Dar says, "We have repeatedly emphasized the need for changing direction of these nallahs and constructing a few small dams so that water reaching to these wetlands is without the silt". Ghulam Hasan Butt agrees with Mr. Dar and says that changing the direction of the nallahs and construction of a few small dams is not a very difficult proposition in view of the technology available these days. "Earlier non-availability of the necessary technology was the excuse for not doing anything but now even when the required technology is available, nothing is being done. The job can be done by spending a few lakhs of rupees today but in future, even if crores of rupees are spent, the Haigam and the Hokersar wetlands would not be saved."

Asks Butt: Since the government accepts that the Dal Lake is dying due to illegal trading activities, should it not accept that it (the government) has a direct role in the destruction of these wetlands?" Due to silting and governments neglect, the Haigam wetland has shrunk to 445 square kilometers from 725 square kilometers, and Hokersar wetland has shrunk to 11 square kilometers from 14 square kilometers.

These wetlands of Kashmir are home of the millions of migrant water-birds who come here after traveling thousands of miles from far off places in September every year and stay here till March. These migrant birds come from Siberia in search of food and to escape frosty winds there. According to Mr. Bakshi around 4.5 lac water birds came to Hokerser this year. The government is trying to create an impression that since water birds are coming in large numbers therefore everything in these wetlands is all right. However, Mr. Dar does not agree. According to him the birds do not have any alternative except to come here. He says that during winter season water in Siberia freezes, and these birds do not find anything to eat, therefore, they come to Kashmir in search of food, and also for breeding.

Ironically, migrant water-birds.are denied food as well. Mukhta Dar rues that earlier the authorities used to grow singhara) and also put other foods for the migrant water birds but it is not being done now at the Haigam wetland. Assistant Conservator Mohammad Ramzan Dar feels that silting and encroachments are making it difficult for these birds to find their food.

There is an official ban on the hunting of these water birds for the last few years. However, the people interested in hunting but also by the Wild Life Department officials have not only criticized the ban. It is felt that the ban has not stopped hunting of the birds. Mukhta Dar terms the ban as "unwise". The hunters played an important role in the maintenance of the wetlands. "When the hunters used to go deep into the wetlands, they used to bring to the notice of higher officials any failing on the part of forest officials, and this led to remedial action; now when nobody goes to interior areas of these wetlands, nothing is known about the happenings there". Mr. Bakshi is also not happy with this decision of the government. He says that the hunters used to kill old and aged birds but after this ban these birds are not being killed which is causing various diseases among others. If the hunters used to kill 100 birds, now 300 birds die due to diseases. Mr. Bakshi further says that earlier hunters used to cause movement of water, which controlled weeds, but now weeds are posing a danger to the very existence of these wetlands.

According to Mohammad Ramzan Dar, the ban on the hunting has been imposed due to adverse situation obtaining in Kashmir; nevertheless, he also feels that it has caused more damage than doing the good. He says that earlier some very influential people used to come for hunting which also galvanised the staff to take good care in maintaining the wetlands. According to Mr. Dar now the staff too has become negligent, as they know that no influential person would be visiting these wetlands.

What should be done to save these precious gifts of the nature? Mr. Dar proposes formation of a Board consisting of such persons who have seen glorious past of these wetlands. These people can workout the methods to save the Haigam, Hokerser and other wetlands. According to Mr. Dar three-four floods in a year are sufficient to make these wetlands recede into history. In the words of Ghulam Hasan Butt, when the government is aware of the ailment as well as the remedies, why it is sitting pretty over the problem? According to Mr. Mohammad Ramzan Dar nothing could be done when different officials of the department think in different perspectives. However, according to Khizar Mohammad Kotru, the people who are totally ignorant about the wild life and wetlands are heading the department. Mr. Dar agrees and says that when not even one percent of around 600 employees of the Wild Life Department have been properly trained, how could we expect a better performance from the department?



CHARKHA FEATURE
LAST UPDATED ON October 2004