Western Foreshore Road opposed by int’l firm in 1978; experts question ruling govt’s wisdom

Srinagar, Feb 28: Experts question the government’s proposal to construct a motorable foreshore road on Dal’s western side, claiming the project was red-flagged back in 1978 by an international firm for its damaging capabilities.
The J&K government is planning to construct Western Foreshore Road (WFR), around 3.5-kilometres long, at an estimated cost of Rs 36 crore.
The WFR, if the project is implemented, would begin at Kohnakhan and end at Saida Kadal Bridge, cutting through Nowpora, Miskeen Bagh, and Jogi Lanker.
The government claims that the project is “the single biggest step towards saving Dal Lake”.
Experts, however, say it will spell the doom for the water-body, which the encroachments, pollution, and official apathy have already reduced to about 30 per cent of its original size in the last four decades.
Ajaz Rasool, an environmentalist and an expert in hydraulic engineering, told The Kashmir Monitor that in 1978, Enex Consortium, a New Zealand-based firm, which was hired to formulate a proposal for Dal conservation, had pointed out that a motorable foreshore around the lake was not “an ecologically-friendly step”.
“When Enex formulated the conservation plan, one of the measures they suggested was to delineate the lake boundary by constructing a pedestrian embankment, and not a motorable road, on both northern and western shores of the lake,” said Ajaz.
The reason for their opposition to a motorable road, Aijaz says, was because the same would have blocked the seepage lines between the lake and its surroundings.
He said the then-government had constituted a high power board over the matter.
It, Ajaz said, was headed by the then-CM Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and his Works Minister Gulam Mohammad Shah as its Secretary.
“On the board’s insistence, although Enex gave them a go ahead, they clearly pointed out their reservations to a motorable road. The road, if at all it was to be made, was supposed to be constructed the same way Boulevard was in 1931 by the British engineers,” he said.
The engineers then (1931), Ajaz continued, had used wooden cribwork structures and placed boulders in them to form the base of the Boulevard.
“They had done so not to disturb the uphill seepage lines, the synergy between the water and the earth,” he said.
The work on Northern Foreshore, the present Nishat to Habak road, was eventually undertaken by Urban Environmental Engineering Department (UEED).
However, UEED, as per Ajaz, simply filled-up the area with earth and constructed the road on it.
The work on Western Foreshore, the project that the government now plans to restart, began around 1986.
Jagmohan, in his first tenure as governor of J&K then, saw it and immediately halted the work, said Ajaz.
“Around 800 meters of landfilling was done until a little ahead of Mamta Hotel at Kohnakhan. As soon as the work started, there was a spurt of activity around it. People started constructing guest houses and hotels. Jagmohan immediately started reasoning that it would lead to urbanisation and destroy the lake,” Ajaz said.
The work, he said, was stopped midway, and remains halted until now.
The current government, Ajaz added, wants to revise the same WFR proposal and construct a motorable road.
“I have a worked a lot on the lake. The WFR, in its present form, is not going to be favourable for Dal. You are creating a new boulevard, which means more hotels, more sewerage into Dal. Constructing a motorable road will also block the channels.”
Asked about the government claims that WFR would stop the encroachments, Ajaz said: “We have seen what happened on the hinter side of the current boulevard. Thousands of hotels have come up. Same would happen if the WFR is constructed.”
He suggested constructing a walkway, instead, and making, at least, 100 feet of the area beyond the Dal shore a green zone to stop encroachments.
A noted environmentalist, Prof Abdul Majeed Kak, too flagged the project.
“In my opinion, it will not be good for Dal. If they go for a temporary demarcation, it may be useful. But if they create a road thorough Nowpora, and Khanyar, it will lead to further encroachments,” Kak said.
On J&K High Court directions, the government has recently hired services of National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) for undertaking an Environmental Impact Assessment (EAI) of the WFR project.
While the EAI, as per NEERI, is still in its infancy, the government seems to have already made up its mind that they will get a go ahead.
Since January, multiple government press releases have shown officials stressing on the WFR project and its completion.
“…it was recommended that the construction of leftover portion of the road (WFR) shall be taken up on priority for establishing a three-tier Ring Road pattern as envisaged in the Draft Master Plan to mitigate all potential challenges of urban mobility,” read an Information Department handout regarding a meeting headed by Deputy CM Nirmal Singh on February 26.
On February 19, Press Trust of India quoted Abdul Hafiz Shah, Vice Chairman of Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (L&WDA), saying that they have “submitted a detailed project report at an estimated cost of Rs 38 crore for construction of the WFR to the state government”.
Submitting the DPR for a project, which awaits its EAI report, is, too, being questioned by the experts.
Contacted, Shah, however, said that there was “a mistake”.
“It is not a DPR, but a Pre-Feasibility Report (PFR) submitted to the government,” he said.
When this reporter referred to the concerns highlighted by the New Zealand firm and the environmentalists, Shah said, “We are yet to decide whether or not to construct the motorable road or a walkway.”
His statement, though, was completely opposite to what the government claims.
In fact, he himself, during a programme on television on January 31, had clearly stated that the WFR was to provide the motorists with an alternate road to cross the city.
Asked about the concern that a macadamised road will clog the water flowing channels of the lake, the VC L&WDA said. “We are proposing 35 culverts so that the lake’s water flowing channels are not blocked.”
“We also plan to make buffer zones of around 200 metres, so that no construction takes place,” he said.
Shah added that the EIA report will be submitted in three months beginning February 5.
The same was confirmed by Dr Rakesh Kumar, Director NEERI.
Kumar, however, refused to comment on the concerns raised by the environmentalists saying that it was too early to speak over it.