One More To Go

- Athar Parvaiz

SRINAGAR HAS been losing its wetlands over the years. In a series of environmentally destructive projects implemented by the state government, offices, hospitals and residences have been built over wetlands in areas like Bemina, Barzulla, Hyderpora, Sanat Nagar, Rawalpora and Natipora. According to a study by the Jammu and Kashmir government’s Department of Environment, Ecology and Remote Sensing, wetlands in Srinagar reduced from 13,426 hectares (ha) in 1911 to 6,407 ha in 2004. And now, the Department of Rakhs and Farms (DRF) is fighting a strange battle to ªsaveº the sprawling Narkara wetland, of which it doesn’t even have ownership papers.

Wetlands in the state are under the jurisdiction of the Department of Wildlife Protection. However, the DRF claims Narkara as its own by virtue of its foundational mandate of 1955, under which it was given jurisdiction over certain lands in Srinagar and other parts of Kashmir, like Rakh-i-Arat in Budgam and wetlands near Bandipora’s Wular lake. Since the department has no revenue records of Narkara, the wetland, located 12 km south of central Srinagar, is being encroached slowly, with many portions on the edges being grabbed by land mafia. According to a study titled Urban Sprawl of Srinagar City and its Impact on Wetlands, published in May 2014 in the International Journal of Environment and Bioenergy, Narkara’s area was 342 ha in 1971, which shrank to 261 ha in 2010.

“When we try to stop encroachers, they say how can you stop us when you don’t have ownership documents?” Abdul Rahim Samoon, Director, DRF told Down To Earth (DTE). “Recently, three of our staff received severe injuries in an assault by land-grabbers. We have lodged an FIR and have written to the Budgam police as Narkara falls within its jurisdiction,” he adds.