SRINAGAR: Lakes and Waterways Development Authority (LAWDA) is going to purchasenew de-weeding machines for Dal and Nigeen lakes.
The decision was taken by the board of director who have approved this decision in a meeting.
Official said that old machines are around 20 years old and they are not working properly due to which de-weeding is not done in a proper way.
Although LAWDA is spending crores of rupees annually on manual and mechanical de-weeding process, but still the surface of Dal and Nigeen lakes remains deteriorated by the unwanted weeds and algal blooms.
Every year majority of the lake portion is de-surfaced with green algal blooms and unwanted weeds.
As per the official, new de-weeding machines are in final stage and they will be cutting the weeds beyond 3-4 feets. “Before Aug 05, around 800-900 skilled and non-skilled labourers were engaged for the de-weeding process in Dal Lake.But at this time, de-weeding is done only in mechanical way aslabourers are not able to work properly in cold,” he said.
Vice chairman LAWDA, GM Dar said that they have proposed procuring of 7-8 more new de-weeding machines for the Dal and Nigeen lakes. “These machines will ease the de-weeding process in the water bodies, and these machines will cost 20 lakh rupees. Old machines are decades old and they are not in a good conditional,” he said.
He added that the department has currently engaged its de-weeding machines to remove the weeds from many areas of the Dal Lake which include Chaar- Chinary, Lam, Nishat and Dargah.

NAZIMA SIDIQ