Staff shortage in Wular Lake's conservation authority hits revival measures

Bandipora, Jan 4: The acute shortage of staff in the Wular Conservation and Management Authority (WUCMA) has badly hit conservation efforts aimed to revive Wular Lake, located in north Kashmir's Bandipora and Baramulla districts.

Persons privy to the matter, while talking to Greater Kashmir revealed that the conservation authority was working with a strength of around 18 members, which includes officers and support staff.

The project is aimed at dredging of the accumulated silt and clearing willow infestation, besides scores of other measures to maintain the ecological balance while also compensating for the deforested areas inside the lake by afforestation of the catchment areas.

The WUCMA has designated six zones in the lake which include Zone Bandipora, Watlab, Ningli, Banyari, SK Payeen, and Shahgund.

Officials say Wular has 130 square km of demarcated area, with 27 square km being critically silted. The authorities have restored the 5 square km lake area, besides willow infestation of 8 square km out of 20 square km, following dredging works of 2020 to increase the water holding capacity of the lake. The sources said that keeping the lake protected is a tedious task amid low staff for the supervisory authority".

Moreover, keeping a watch over forest closures in catchment areas in the capacity of Zonal officials adds to the frustration of already burdened staff.

"There are two to three closures under one zonal official, the closures range in size from 27, 30 to 40 or more hectares," one of the Zonal officials told Greater Kashmir. One official said there are around 30 closures in catchment areas.

One example is that the Zonal officer in Baramulla has to look after two zones Ningli and Watlab. The zones have six officials in total and are required to keep watch for six closures in the zone.

The authority officials recommend forest closures in catchment areas be handed over to the forest department to reduce the burden partly.

Notably, 30 villages in Bandipora and Sopore are dependent on the lake’s produce which produces sixty percent of fish in Jammu and Kashmir. The lake also produces the famed water chestnut.

2024 saw lotus stem getting revived in the lake area near Saderkoot Payeen after nearly two decades. Notably, this area also witnessed dredging works.

The lake has been witnessing an increased number of migratory bird arrivals for three consecutive years, with rare bird sightings generating excitement for bird watchers.

In 2023, a flock of five Long-Tailed Ducks (Clangula hyemalis), last seen in Hokersar Lake in 1939, were spotted in Wular. Following this Horned Grebes were recorded for the first time in Wular Lake. This season, in October 2024, field officials spotted the elusive Great Bittern (Botaurus stellaris) for the first time in the Kashmir Valley in Wular Lake.

As per persons privy to the issue, the authority has to seek help from forest territorial staff, wildlife department, and forest protection force to keep the lake protected as WUCMA has no staff to patrol the areas threatened by poachers.

"When the migratory season arrives, forest officials are deployed for lake conservation as WUCMA cannot afford this activity on its own," one range official said.

The authority also caught a group of poachers engaged in ill practice on CCTV cameras installed around lake areas. However, it was the wildlife department who nabbed the group, even arresting one.

"WUCMA does not have resources for enforcement due to staff shortage," Ovais Farooq Mir, the authorities coordinator said.

The officials said the authority has around 40 staff members, when excluding ministerial staff, it sums up to around 15 to 18. They said WUCMA was not as organised as other authorities such as the Lake Conservation and Management Authority (LCMA).

The WUCMA camp office at Saderkoot Payeen should be turned into a satellite office, where higher officials from Srinagar could visit on specific weekdays, official sources added.

"It will help to provide NOC for constructions and address other problems faced by villagers living around the lake for which they have to otherwise travel to Srinagar," they said.