Srinagar, March 31 -- The Jammu and Kashmir government has started the process of developing eco-hamlets in Kashmir's iconic Dal Lake instead of relocating families from the lake, reeling from decades of pollution and encroachments. The development comes as the government discontinued the relocation of families from Dal Lake as a conservation policy after the Lakes Conservation Management Authority(LCMA) managed to shift only 3,108 families from inside the Dal Lake to various housing colonies in Srinagar achieving rehabilitation target of just 27% in 36 years owing to voluntary provision of acquisition, the documents presented by J&K government in the assembly have revealed. The drive to relocate the people living on the lake was started in 2010-11 by the lake authority, after Save Dal Project was started around 1997, to control water pollution (caused by the sewage and littering from households and houseboats) and prevent encroachments for the conservation and rejuvenation of the lake. The process was extremely slow and often faced backlash from the lake dwellers, mostly boat rowers, vegetable growers and fishing community, whose livelihood depended on the lake. Incharge minister of housing and urban development, chief minister Omar Abdullah, in response to various questions by legislators in February and March in the current session of the J&K assembly informed that the LCMA has so far shifted approximately 3,108 families from inside Dal Lake and rehabilitated at various housing colonies as a conservation practice. Of these, the major chunk has been shifted to Rakh Arth Colony in the outskirts of the city. "Around 1,808 families have been successfully rehabilitated so far from Dal-Lake area at Rakh Arth Colony. Free of cost land and plots were provided to them. Besides, compensation for their properties was also paid to them," the CM said in response to legislator Tanvir Sadiq's question. The government said that the high level committee headed by the divisional commissioner, which was constituted for the purpose, noted in 2022 that people living on the lake were an integral part of the eco system and the relocation process had taken a long time. "The HLC held a meeting on April 16, 2022, and decided that since Dal-dwellers constitute an integral part of the Lake ecosystem, therefore, their continued dwelling and a stay on the lake is equally important to make this ecosystem vibrant, dynamic and lively. LCMA was instructed to work out the strategy for in-situ conservation of the Ecosystem," the CM said. The response said that since the rehabilitation process stretched over a longer period, the High Court, in the backdrop of a PIL , took the serious view of the slow pace of the rehabilitation process. "The Committee directed that over a period of 36 years, the acquisition process in relation to the lake conservation has recorded the achievement of 27% only owing to voluntary provision of acquisition policy for relocation and the Committee unanimously considered the in-situ conservation Model as viable alternative to the existing mode of Rehabilitation which has not yielded substantial progress so far," Omar Abdullah said. In another response to legislator Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi, the CM said that the rehabilitation process came to a standstill owing to several impediments most notably due to ongoing corruption investigation by the Anti Corruption Bureau in an FIR filed in 2022. The LCMA was asked to draft a policy note and directed to fix the number of the structures inside the lake taking the latest survey as reference. Under the in-situ conservation model, the Dal dwellers living in the Hamlets inside the Lake have been termed as a part of "Dal Ecosystem". "Therefore instead of their rehabilitation elsewhere hamlets are being developed as eco-hamlets. In this regard, out of the 58 hamlets, the development of 6 Hamlets have been taken up under UT CAPEX Budget," the CM said. "Further, a DPR titled 'Integrated Management Programme for conservation of Dal-Nigeen Lake Ecosystem' has been framed by the authority under PMDP. The DPR as apprised by IT Roorkee has been accepted by MoEF& CC through MHA for an amount of 212.38 crore to be spent over a period of five years. The project mainly addresses the issue of sewerage of 28 internal hamlets and convert theminto model hamlets, treatment measures of various inflow nallahs in catchment areas," response said....