LAWDA holds 5th Scientific Advisory Committee meeting on preservation of lakes

SRINAGAR, JANUARY 20: The 5th Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) meeting of J&K Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) on the preservation of lakes in J&K was held today at SKICC.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of SAC chairman, Dr A.R Yousuf and was attended by members of SAC which includes VC LAWDA, Dr A.H Masoodi, Mohammad Shafi Bacha, Dr Farooq Ahmad Lone and Dr Manzoor Ahmad Shah. Besides, the meeting was also attended by officials of LAWDA, Scientists and experts from LAWDA, officers of Forest Department and other concerned officials.

During the meeting, a review of the decisions taken during the 4th SAC meeting held in October 2017 was taken and the agenda for the 5th SAC was also discussed.

On the occasion, Dr A.H Masoodi highlighted the ongoing conservation works in and around the Dal and Nigeen lakes. He said that a special drive for removal of lily pads, both manually and mechanically, has been started from August 2017 and so far 3 sq km has been cleared of the lily infestation. This process has also resulted in providing livelihood to around 1300 persons.

He further said that the department is working on strengthening of the research and monitoring division, procurement of latest equipments, removal of Azolla and other pesticides in the lake waters and other preventive measures are being taken to save native fish species in the lake that are being carved out in a result-oriented manner.

On the occasion, the threadbare discussion was held on various aspects on the conservation of lakes and it was observed that there is a need to carry out few short time study and research to carry out the result oriented tasks.

The chairman SAC while emphasized the need of cross-checking of different research and stressed that before making any experimentation at the larger scale, the impact of any such intervention on the aquatic life and lake ecosystem should be taken into account since there is inalienable social and cultural sensitiveness associated with this world-famous water body.

Later, the presentation on the geotagging of structures that fall in 200 meters around Dal and Nigeen lakes was presented by the group of junior engineers deployed for the work. It was informed that around ten thousand structures need to brought under geotagging process out of which around 2500 structures have already covered for geotagging.