‘My father explained me about Lake, but its pollution hurts me, at Rainawari side one can’t bear foul smell due to garbage presence in the water body’
Mubashir Aalam Wani
Srinagar, July 25: Little Janat will turn eight tomorrow and her birthday wish is to see Dal Lake, neat and clean. She says Dal Lake in Srinagar is Allah’s precious gift to the people of Srinagar, who are not realizing it’s important and yet are polluting it by all means, which hurts her the most.
Getting full support of her father Tariq Ahmed, Janat vows to fight for preservation of the Lake as she grows up and till she turns 18, she says she will work hand in hand with her father to clean the Lake from pollutants. But what hurts here more is that continuous breed of unnecessary weeds and the pollutants, which she isn’t able to clean. “I saw my father cleaning the plastic bottlers, polythene bags, and even used clothes from the Lake. I asked him repeatedly why he was doing it. Every time he told me this Lake is our world and we can’t see our world getting dirty and polluted,” little Janat said while speaking exclusively to news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO)
She was only five-year-old, when she started helping her father in cleaning the world famous Dal Lake located in the heart of Srinagar. Today she is 8 but committed to continue the mission she has taken up along with her father. Janat’s work was recognized in Hyderabad where a textbook mentioned her contribution towards saving the Lake. Janat aspires to be a scientist with a sole aim of saving the Lake from pollution. “Since it would take me many years to become a scientist, my appeal to the government is to install modern machines in large numbers to clean the Lake from pollution. If pollution of the Lake continues with the speed it is going on, after five or ten years, there will be no Dal Lake in Srinagar,” she told KNO
Janat’s commitment towards cleaning the lake evoked tremendous response at national and international level besides locals and concerned citizens of Kashmir, especially Srinagar. “I am glad to hear that she has earned a place in a textbook in Hyderabad,” beams Tariq, Janat’s father.
Over the few years, Janat after watching her father cleaning the Lake on every Sunday, set up her goal to pull out the pollutants that include plastic bottles, chips covers, used clothes, shoe covers, rotten vegetables and polluting items. “At times my daughter screams over the people who throw unnecessary items into the Lake. She is very strict about Lake pollution and doesn’t allow anyone to throwing anything unnecessary into the Lake,” said Tariq.
The man with a mission, Tariq has framed a 12-point formula for cleaning Dal Lake. “We need to what exactly is the space covered by the Lake. It’s not only where houseboats are. I cant clean Dal along with my daughter, but we have a mission and a message to everyone to come forward and save this natural gift,” he said.
He further said he along with his daughter clean whatever portion of the Lake is possible on every Sunday. “This gives me a level of satisfaction and brings some sort of smile on the face of my daughter. We pull out the garbage and other water pollutants from the Lake and then same is being taken away by the volunteers who have joined hands to save Dal,” said Tariq—(KNO)
