The Dal Lake reflects the image of our failures. Having inherited it in all it pristine condition seventy years back, the successive governments miserably failed to protect the Lake. A section of political leadership for small time gains and petty political outcomes, encouraged encroachments. This contributed to the devastation of the lake; who can deny this. This huge failure of political leadership, nevertheless, cannot hide the failure of the state bureaucracy. As against the transitory political dispensations in power, the bureaucracy enjoys permanence. This twin failure is responsible for the mess in the state, of which Dal Lake is just one manifestation. Now who can explain this that the government has failed to spend Rs. 380 Crores allocated to the state under different central packages for the conservation of the Dal Lake. Most of the experts have identified habitation within Dal Lake as the biggest threat to its survival and have recommended the relocation of these habitations. Of the total allocations, Rs. 330 Crores were meant for rehabilitation of the ‘Dal dwellers’ and 50 Crores for cleanliness of the Lake. Why the state has failed to spend even a single penny from the allocated funds for conservation of the Dal Lake, the administration owes an explanation to the people of the state. The people at helm might yarn a woolly explanation, drenched in legal and administrative jargon, but the fact of the matter is that it speaks of rank apathy towards public interest. It also speaks of the inefficiency of the concerned departments. This kind of an attitude towards governance and administration is no less than criminal. It is for the people of the state to take such matters seriously and come forward in a civil, decent, and democratic way to highlight such problems. If we let go waste our national assets this way we will be accomplices in the crime. We must know that there are ways, legal and institutional, to highlight the problems. There are ways to make the political leadership, and the administration, responsible towards people. Things like Dal Lake belong to all and it is the responsibility of all to preserve such natural assets.
We are all responsible
