Can authorities retrieve Dal?
Governor Satya Pal Malik has worked very hard in the recent past to complete many projects in Kashmir Valley. In this direction has given strict instructions to his administration to complete these projects without any further delay. One of the delayed projects is the Dal Conservation Project. It has been going on without any visible progress with government getting funds from the Centre worth hundreds of crores.
According to the officials connected with Dal Conservation Project, over 600 crores have been spent so far and on the development of colony for the rehabilitation of Dal dwellers, already few hundred crores have been spent. In the latest meeting, the bureaucrats have decided to develop now Rakh-e-Arth which was initially a water-body as a marshy patch again so that it becomes an option for the Dal dwellers to use it for their livelihood.
Hundreds of families living within the Dal Lake have pleaded with the government that they should not be shifted to such a far off place and instead the government should look for land for their rehabilitation at Shalimar or at Chandipora Harwan. It is in place to mention that at the initial stage of Dal Conservation Project, government notified Chandipora Harwan land for the rehabilitation of Dal dwellers, but subsequently the officers decided to shift them to Rakh-e-Arth in Budgam district.
According to the report submitted by LAWDA to the Central Government about the pace of the project, they have said that 2000 plots at Rakh-e-Arth have been allotted to the Dal dwellers and now they require nearly 8000 more such plots to bring entire population out of the Dal Lake. Rakh-e-Arth has been filled by the government for the colony of Dal dwellers and it has more land than required for the rehabilitation.
