• About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Our Team
  • Advertising
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
Friday, July 11, 2025
Lake City Times
No Result
View All Result
  • Top News
  • Region
  • City News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Health
  • Edit-Oped
  • Tourism
  • National
  • World
  • ePaper
  • Top News
  • Region
  • City News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Health
  • Edit-Oped
  • Tourism
  • National
  • World
  • ePaper
No Result
View All Result
Lake City News
No Result
View All Result
Home Top News

Encroachment, unabated pollution, lack of conservation hits Hygam wetland

LCT Desk by LCT Desk
November 29, 2022
in Top News
Reading Time: 2min read
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterWhatsappTelegram

READ ALSO

Dangerous narratives threatening peace, harmony in J&K should be stopped: Lt Governor

Post Operation Sindoor, demand for ‘Make in India’ weapons increases

Sopore, Nov 28: Once known as Maharaja Protected Wetland is losing its sheen as illegal encroachment, unabated pollution and lack of conservation measures have affected the ecosystem of the wetland at Haritar Hygam in Sopore.
The Hygam-Wetland, a natural aquifer, spread over 7.25 kilometers is one of the known wetlands of Kashmir. The wetland is embedded with springs. It has 1400 hectares of land with the area is dominated by extensive reed beds and home to many migratory birds include White Heeled Duck, Shoveller, Red-Crested Pochard, White-Eyed Pochard, Pintail, Mallard, Gadwall, Coot and Graylag.
Aijaz Rasool, wetland technical expert and a senior executive member of Environmental Policy Group (EPG) said that due to large scale illegal encroachments, unabated pollution and insensitivity of authorities to keep check on human interference in the wetland, it has reduced to a big pond, forcing migratory birds to find an alternative habitat as their winter home.
“The wetland is ill maintained. Authorities must restore and conserve the wetland for future generations as there is a water siltation of 10 ft which deteriorates its condition,” he said.
Similarly, Patron central Auqaf committee Tarzoo in Sopore Aijaz Ahmed Dar said that the wetland has been encroached at many places including Haritar, Hygam, Lolpora, Gohul, Goshbug etc.
“Scores of structures have come up over the past several years while hundreds of kanals of land were being used by encroachers illegally for cultivating paddy,” he said.
Dar, who is also a member of EPG said that the authorities earlier had identified the encroached land of at least 2300 Kanals and have not been retrieved yet. In addition to this, approximately 1200 kanals of land have been converted for crop cultivation. “The official inability to act in time has encouraged more and more people to grab the land. Hundreds of trees were uprooted during the snow but they were not removed. An auction may have fetched money to conserve the wetland but nothing was done,” he added.
Mohammad Shafi Bacha, a retired senior official of the Wildlife department and was at Hygam wetland said that he used to count the migratory birds in lakhs. “But we hardly witness any now because the water level capacity of this wetland has been minimised to 1 sq km from 7.2 sq kms due to siltation,” he said.
“In the year 2000, we had marked the wetland and decided to remove the trees which were planted by the various agencies including social forestry, panchayats and even the wildlife department as well. It has been 20 years since then and nothing has been done till now,” Bacha added.
Similarly, locals too demanded attention of the authorities to save the wetland from further deterioration.
Wildlife warden North Kashmir could not be contacted despite repeated phone calls.

Related Posts

Top News

Dangerous narratives threatening peace, harmony in J&K should be stopped: Lt Governor

July 11, 2025
Post Operation Sindoor, demand for ‘Make in India’ weapons increases

Srinagar, Jul 10: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Thursday inaugurated 'Bharat Sanrachna J&K 2025' exhibition and public outreach initiative at Srinagar....

Read more
by LCT Desk
0 Comments
Top News

Post Operation Sindoor, demand for ‘Make in India’ weapons increases

July 11, 2025
Post Operation Sindoor, demand for ‘Make in India’ weapons increases

Rehan Qayoom Mir Srinagar, Jul 10: Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Thursday said that the demand for indigenous defence equipment...

Read more
by LCT Desk
0 Comments
Top News

Mutual tourism growth possible between J&K, West Bengal: CM

July 11, 2025
Mutual tourism growth possible between J&K, West Bengal: CM

Kolkata, Jul 10: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Thursday inaugurated the Travel & Tourism Fair, TTF Kolkata-2025, India’s...

Read more
by LCT Desk
0 Comments
Top News

J&K’s four Rajya Sabha seats vacant since 2021

July 11, 2025
Hectic lobbying for Rajya Sabha berths in J&K

Srinagar, Jul 10: Jammu & Kashmir has been without representation in the Rajya Sabha for over four and a half...

Read more
by LCT Desk
0 Comments
Politics

Dy CM blames PDP for current situation in J&K

July 11, 2025
Dy CM blames PDP for current situation in J&K

Srinagar, Jul 10: Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary on Wednesday said that Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is responsible for the...

Read more
by LCT Desk
0 Comments
Top News

Amarnath Yatra: Over 1.45 lakh perform darshan so far

July 11, 2025
Amarnath Yatra completes one month

Srinagar, Jul 10: Undeterred by intermittent downpours in the valley, thousands of devotees continue their pilgrimage to the holy cave...

Read more
by LCT Desk
0 Comments
Next Post
Don’t fall prey to fake promises of traditional political parties: Bukhari

Don't fall prey to fake promises of traditional political parties: Bukhari

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Our Team
  • Advertising
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service

© 2021 Lake City Times - Premium theme by GITS.

No Result
View All Result
  • Top News
  • Region
  • City News
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Health
  • Edit-Oped
  • Tourism
  • National
  • World
  • ePaper

© 2021 Lake City Times - Premium theme by GITS.