Dal lake set to have its first ‘Green Village’ next month

Villager of Sofi Muhalla Dal lake collecting trash. -Photo /Excelsior
Villager of Sofi Muhalla Dal lake collecting trash. -Photo /Excelsior

Irfan Tramboo

Srinagar, Mar 31: Sofi Muhalla, located in the interiors of Dal Lake, a few kilometres from Nehru Park, is to become the Lake’s first Green Village, thanks to the cleaning efforts of volunteers and green advocates under the maiden Eco Development Committee (EDC).
The EDC established at Sofi Muhalla within Dal Lake is the first of its kind, and it is a platform through which the cleaning process has been taken up and carried out-every Sunday.
“There has been a significant improvement, which can be seen around; the LCMA has also been working on clearing the navigation by clearing the weed, and now the EDC is doing the remainder, which could be critical for the conservation of the Dal Lake,” said one of the locals, Waseem Hassan.
It should be noted that, as part of the initiative, several people join the cleaning process every Sunday, with the emphasis now being on cleaning Sofi Muhalla, a small village with a minuscule population.
There are also individuals in the EDC who, rather than working on Sundays, now prefer to join environmentalists and other activists who are seen busy with conservation efforts in the Dal Lake, which was begun from a small village, emitting change.
Those involved in the initiative, as well as residents of Sofi Muhalla, stated that for the first time, an EDC was established in Dal Lake with the goal of conserving the water body, which continues to demand the authorities’ full attention.
Duha Ibrahim, Director, Nature Tourism Projects-part of the Green Village initiative-confirmed to Excelsior that the EDC formed is the first of its kind in Dal Lake, while also stating that the conservation model used in Sofi Muhammad is being actively implemented by the village’s children, youth, and elders.
“We had previously visited Sofi Muhalla; it is a small village; we spoke with the locals and then brought our green ambassadors shortly after things were ready on the ground. We all laboured together to clean up the area; currently, 95% of the village has been cleaned,” he said.
She said that on April 22, the EDA will hand over the certification of Sofi Muhalla being declared as the first Green Village of Dal Lake. “The village has seen nothing but official neglect; all we did was point them in the correct direction; the rest was up to them; change is quite visible.”
Duha further said that they are also planning to put in place the wooden fencing around the village in coming days. “The dredging which was recently carried out by the LCMA had wreaked havoc there; they needed help which we did,” she said.
Nadeem Qadri, J&K Consultant, Earth Day Network (EDN), and a green ambassador said that the efforts made are showing results and they will do everything possible to ensure step-wise conservation of the water body.
Notably, earlier, on March 19, Bollywood actor, Imran Khan, who was on his visit to Kashmir, joined the cleaning campaign at Sofi Muhalla along with several other volunteers while in days to come more celebrities are expected to join in.