By Sarwar Kashani, IANS
Srinagar : Kashmir valley can reclaim its title of ‘Venice of the East’ if a proposal to revive its once-famed inland water transport system along 170 km of the river Jhelum from the south to the north takes off.
The proposal has been made by the union water resources ministry and it is now up to the state government to approve it.
According to Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz, a Japanese company has already agreed to sponsor the project aimed at attracting more tourists to the violence-torn valley. The project, if implemented, would also help revive Kashmiri culture and promote tourism in the valley, Soz said.
According to the plan, the water transport system would be made available along the 170-km stretch of the Jhelum from Khanabal in Anantnag district in south Kashmir to Khadanyar in Baramulla district in the north.
Once a source of clean and fresh water, the Jhelum has turned into a drain and is the trash receptacle of every villages on its course.
The proposal, if accepted, should breathe some life back into the Jhelum, which originates from a stream called Verinag in south Kashmir. It is regarded as a lifeline for the people of this Himalayan state that has suffered severe environmental degradation and witnessed official negligence in preserving historical legacies in the wake of the ongoing Pakistan-sponsored separatist movement.
There have been huge and blatant encroachments and indiscriminate construction on the banks of this river of grandeur, causing problems in its navigational capacity.
According to official sources, the government has so far allotted Rs.12 million for restoring the glory of the Jhelum. But the work on the river is not considered up to the mark.
Soz admitted here earlier this week that work on the river had slowed down.
The inland water transport system through lakes and river basins had won Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar the title ‘Venice of the East’.
Like the Italian town, inland water navigation was the main means of transport in the Kashmir valley in the not too distant past. Wooden boats called ‘bahachs’ and ‘doongas’ were used to commute within and to Srinagar city, much like the famed waterbuses of Venice – ‘vaporetti’ and ‘motoscafi’.
According to official documents, a sub-committee on the Indus Water Transport Treaty had recommended restoration of navigation in the Jhelum in 1972. However, the project could not be completed because of Pakistani objections to the Wullar barrage in north Kashmir.
Soz said he had been able to convince a high-level team from Pakistan that the project would not in any way violate the provisions of the Indus Water Treaty.
In the past, Kashmiris, along with foreign tourists, would spend days cruising through the lakes and rivers. The practice was traditionally called ‘Dal Wasun’, or cruising through the Dal lake, even though the path was along the river Jhelum and touched other lakes such as the Nigeen, Anchar and sometimes Wullar.
“Those were the days, when we used to go for excursions in a unique way,” remembers Mohammed Ramzan Butt, 70, a barber in Srinagar. “We used to spend days, even weeks, on the cruise, listening to traditional Kashmiri Sufi music and relishing delicious wazwan.”
“However, I deeply feel for the young generation that has seen nothing but the violence,” regretted Butt.