Devastating floods of 2014 in Kashmir must not be lost sight of by those who have encroached upon an 80 feet widecanal known as Nullah Zoeg Kohal in North Kashmir’s Baramulla district so much so that it has got shrunk to a mere 5 feet sewage drain. The process of encroachment and violation along it has been over years together. While the ones who have encroached it with impunity are locals only, others in the locality wonder as to why the administration does not get into action to clear the encroachments.
Once fresh water flowing through this canal is now carrying the entire sewage load of the area indicating that none including the administration cared what a hazard it all meant for the ecology. The extent of encroachment is such that it has “exempted” the local administration from the “trouble” of cleansing the canal even though it flows down in the main town of Baramulla. The silt and garbage waste has been accumulating thus hastening the demise of this canal. We feel once the locals there started feeling the importance of and love for this canal, everything would get streamlined automatically but who would bell the cat?
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