Anantnag: The trout fish farm in Kokernag area of Anantnag district, said to be South Asia’s largest such farm, faces an existential threat as the Jal Shakti Department (JSD) is in the process of erecting a diagonal wall, for local water supply requirements, which will reduce water flow during the ‘lean period’ to the farm.
The farm was set up in 1984 by the J&K Fisheries department with assistance from the European Economic Community. A rarity in Kashmir, the farm has excelled at what it was supposed to do. It not only produces trout fish, including the special rainbow trout that the farm is known for, it also supplies seeds to more than 500 fish farmers annually. The farm’s trout fish sale in 2018 fetched Rs 1.73 crore and in 2019 it was Rs 1.83 crore. The seed supply brings in another half a crore rupees annually.
“In all, more than a thousand people are directly and indirectly dependent on the farm for their employment,” Chief Project Officer (CPO) of the farm, Muzaffar Bazaz, told Kashmir Reader.
The farm is completely dependent for its water supply on the Kokernag spring. Over the years the Jal Shakti (the erstwhile PHE) department has been laying pipes at different places to cater to the water supply needs of the local population.
Some years ago, however, the department installed 18 inch pipes and after erecting a horizontal stone wall to shield the pipes, the department is now in the process of constructing a diagonal wall.
Bazaz said that the wall, if constructed, will hinder water supply to the farm from October to February. “It is the lean period and the water will need to flow over the wall to reach the farm. But we have concerns that the water level is so low during this period that it will not reach the farm at all,” he said.
He added that the wall is an imminent threat to hundreds of fish that will die due to lack of water.
“We have been pursuing the matter for quite a long time now, and that too at the higher levels of the department. Recently a meeting was held with the PHE department (Jal Shakti department) in presence of the Deputy Commissioner Anantnag, who asked the PHE to think of an alternative such as erecting crates in place of a wall,” Bazaz said.
He said that if crates are installed in place of the wall, that will let the water flow towards the farm without hindrance.
Besides, in 1996, the then Governor during a board meeting in Anantnag had taken the decision to not allow the PHE department to tap the Kokernag spring water.
Also, a source in the Fisheries department said, the department had other options available at their disposal. “They can tap the water of the Brengi stream or dig borewells. Why put the farm in peril?”
Executive Engineer of the JSD division Bijbehara, Muhammad Haneef, said that he has visited the place a few days back and a Detailed Project Report (DPR) will be drafted to see what alternatives are available.
“I am new to this place and I am looking into the matter closely,” Haneef told Kashmir Reader.
Director Fisheries, Muhammad Amin, also said that the issue has been taken up. “I am not aware of the most recent developments but the issue has been taken up with concerned authorities,” Amin said.