Anantnag, May 6: The tributary of Lidder river in Chee village of Anantnag is dying fast with mounds of garbage seen all around.
The garbage being dumped in it not only poses threat to the river, which already has shrunk to a large extent there but its stink irks the people passing through this area.
“Two decades ago this Lidder rivulet gushed with fresh waters and people would use it for drinking purposes,” said Muhamad Shaban, 80.He said children and even elderly people would take a bath in it.“ Now you can yourself see that it has been reduced to a mere cesspool,” Shaban added.
Locals said, even as the village is barely a kilometer away from main town, there is no mechanism to dump the solid waste.“ People throw all the garbage including polythene, plastic into the river,” said another villager, Javaid Ahmad, 50. He said the Irrigation and Flood Control Department too has neglected this river and its flood spill channel.“ The river has been encroached upon with people planting trees on its embankments,” Ahmad said.Villagers, say several Irrigation canals around have also been encroached.
Assistant Executive Engineer, (ARE) Flood and Flood Control Anantnag, Nisar Ahmad assured of treating the river. “I will see if we could get a project to restore the glory of Lidder at Chee, “Ahmad said.