Srinagar: The Environmental Policy Group (EPG) has sounded the alarm over what it terms “covert and unlawful” sewer line laying works being carried out by Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC) in Zainakoot, on the peripheries of the Hokersar Wetland.
Local activists and residents have alleged that the sewerage pipes being laid in the area are designed to discharge untreated sewage directly into Hokersar — a designated Ramsar site of international ecological importance. They warned that the absence of a Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) to process liquid waste before disposal would result in severe and irreversible pollution of the wetland.
According to reports received by EPG, the works are being executed during night hours, “to keep them away from public gaze.” Despite earlier objections communicated in writing by the EPG to the Regional Wildlife Warden, the Wildlife Warden Hokersar, and the SMC Commissioner, activists say the contractor has continued with the project, allegedly under the influence of “politically connected persons.”
A Range Officer of the Wildlife Department had also attempted to stop the activity but was reportedly ignored. A formal report has been submitted by the officer to the Warden Wildlife Department, sources said.
“This covert act besides causing irreparable loss to the Wetland — internationally recognised under the Ramsar Convention to which India is a signatory — also renders infructuous the Rs 47 crores spent earlier on construction of inlet and outlet gates for Hokersar,” said Faiz Bakshi, Convenor of the Environmental Policy Group.
The group has urged immediate intervention by higher authorities, including the Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha and the Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, to stop the ongoing works and institute a high-level enquiry into the matter.
Environmentalists warn that unchecked discharge of untreated sewage will alter the water quality of Hokersar, increasing pollutants such as Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), suspended solids, nitrates and phosphates — directly threatening its fragile biodiversity.
The EPG has demanded that construction of a sewage treatment plant must precede any sewer line expansion in the area, in keeping with wetland protection rules currently in force.