E-Paper
Over 300 people come together to rescue fish from drying up Dal Lake in Dharamshala
More than 300 people, including locals, senior citizens and volunteers from various Tibetan organisations, helped in rescuing fish from drying up Dal Lake in Dharamshala
Thousands of fish were shifted from Dharamshala’s Dal Lake to nearby fish farms and ponds on Tuesday.
Located at 1,775 metres above the mean sea level, the famous Dal Lake in Naddi village on the outskirts of Dharamshala town has again dried up this winter — an issue persisting for over a decade and a half decade. The situation aggravated on Monday when the water level came down so much that fish started dying.
More than 300 people, including locals, senior citizens and volunteers from various Tibetan organisations, helped in the exercise.
Dharamshala subdivisional magistrate Shilpi Beakta had said on Monday that the Jal Shakti department was recharging the lake by pumping water into it so that the fish survive.
“Since the lake water had turned muddy, it was not possible to carry out the operation by machines and had to be done manually. So, we requested the local councillor and Tibetan organisations to come forward,” she said.
The SDM said fish were shifted to farms and ponds in nearby areas.
The rescue operation began at 10am and continued till evening.
MP of Tibetan parliament-in-exile Dawa Tsering said they had come to know about the lake situation. “The Tibetan Welfare Association had requested all Tibetan organisations to send their teams for the rescue work. More than 200 volunteers gathered here in the morning and saved the aquatic life,” he added.
Apart from being a tourist destination, the lake also holds importance for locals from religious point of view as they consider it as sacred as Manimahesh Lake in Chamba. The devotees who can’t go to Manimahesh Lake take the holy dip here.
The problem of silting and seepage first appeared in mid-2000s. The local administration started desilting and restoration work in 2008, but it instead aggravated the problem as the lake completely dried up.
Locals alleged that lake started losing more water rapidly after desilting was done using earthmovers under a joint project carried out by the tourism and forest departments in 2008. An amount of ₹40 lakh was spent on the exercise but it bore negative impact due to restoration work done in unscientific manner and against the advice of geological experts from IIT-Roorkee, who had conducted research on the lake.
Later, a restoration project worth ₹70 lakh was approved to plug the leakage, but that too didn’t work.
In 2018, the Centre had sanctioned ₹4 crore for the restoration and beautification of Dal Lake, but no change is visible as of now.
