Articles by Nusrath Sidiq

63-year-old Ghulam Mohammad Akhoon leaves his home in Zoonimar, Srinagar everyday at around 8 in the morning to sell vegetables in different parts of the city, so that he can feed his family of seven members comprised of his aged mother, his wife, three daughters and a teenage son. He is the only earning member of his family, apart from his elder daughter who makes a meagre amount sewing clothes. The chief breadwinner himself makes around 200 to 300 rupees a day from the sale of vegetables. He is always in a state of confusion over whether to move out…

In an earlier article that traces the gradual but unchecked degradation of the Dal Lake in Kashmir, it had been pointed out that as early as 2009, the Jammu and Kashmir Pollution Control Board had drawn attention, in a report, to the lake pollution created by the houseboats which have been traditionally been tourist favourites. The second largest lake in Kashmir, Dal Lake has four basins: Gagribal, Lokut Dal, Bod Dal and Nagin. According to studies, Lokut Dal and Bod Dal receive about 97,000 kg of sewerage every day! Ghulam Mohammad Itoo, a resident of Rainawari, shares that “The strong…

It is called ‘Srinagar’s jewel’ or ‘jewel in the crown of Kashmir’ -- the Dal Lake, immortalised by literature as much as by countless popular movies and tourist chronicles. Sadly, today it has become a victim of political, social and economic neglect. Over the last thirty years, the lake has been deteriorating at a rapid rate. According to a reply submitted by the state government to the J&K High Court on September 18,  Rs 759 crores of rupees have been spent on the lake since the year 2002, but the plight of the lake continues to become poorer by the…