Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti today visited the interiors of Dal Lake to take stock of the de weeding and cleaning process in the world famous lake.The Chief Minister visited the Dal waters from Boulevard upto Nishat Ghats during which Mehbooba Mufti took an on the spot assessment of the lake conservation efforts by the concerned agencies.The visit is in conformity with the announcement of the Chief Minister on October 02 to visit the lake periodically to personally monitor its cleaning process. On October 02, the Chief Minister had visited Dal lake and expressed concern over the level of pollution and weeds in the famed lake.During the visit, the Chief Minister directed immediate removal of junk from the shoreline of the lake at Nishat. She also directed further pacing up of de weeding and cleaning process. She said she would be personally monitoring the cleaning process of the lake.The Chief Minister appealed people to play their role as conscientious citizens in the conservation and protection of the lake which, she said, holds a special heritage value for Jammu & Kashmir.
She specifically appealed people to support Government’s efforts to restore Dal and avoid polluting the lake waters and not encourage in anyway encroachment of the Dal area.On the occasion, Mehbooba Mufti was informed that lily growth was observed over five kilometres area of the lake and out of that around two kilometre area has been cleared off, both manually and through lily removal machines. She was also informed that mechanical interventions like water masters, weed harvestors besides lily removal machines have been pressed into service after her instructions on October 02. Additionally, the Chief Minister was informed that, manual de weeding has been started in 32 sections of the lake with 500 trained labourers working every day. Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Rohit Kansal; Commissioner-Secretary, Housing and Urban Development, Hridesh Kumar; Deputy Commissioner, Srinagar, Dr Syed Abid Rasheed; Vice Chairman, LWDA, Dr. Abdul Hafiz Masudi; Commissioner, Srinagar Municipal Corporation, Dr. Shafqat Khan and other officers accompanied the Chief Minister during the visit.