Jammu, Apr 6 — The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has flagged a major ecological crisis in Jammu and Kashmir, reporting that 518 out of 697 lakes have either disappeared or significantly shrunk due to unchecked land-use changes and fragmented governance.
According to the audit, based on data from the J&K Ecology, Environment and Remote Sensing Department, the total lake area in the region has declined by 2,851.26 hectares compared to 1967 levels. The assessment uses 2014 as the reference year for Kashmir division and 2020 for Jammu division.
Of the total, 315 lakes—about 45 per cent, covering 1,537.07 hectares—have completely disappeared from official records. These include 80 lakes under the Forest Department and 235 under the Revenue and Agriculture departments.
The report warns that the loss and shrinkage of lakes have led to “ecosystem degradation, loss of water resources, food and biodiversity,” and disrupted carbon, nutrient and water cycles, increasing climate vulnerability in the region.
It also links shrinking water bodies to heightened flood risk, noting that reduced lake capacity contributed to the severity of the 2014 Jammu and Kashmir floods, as lakes act as natural buffers during extreme rainfall events.
Titled “Conservation and Management of Lakes in Jammu and Kashmir for the period ended March 2022,” the report was recently tabled in the Legislative Assembly.
The audit attributes the decline primarily to land-use changes within lakes and their catchments, alongside deforestation, climate change and altered hydrological dynamics. It also points to gaps in conservation planning and implementation.
Administrative control of lakes remains split across five departments—Forest, Revenue, Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, and Tourism—resulting in fragmented management and lack of coordinated action.
Government conservation efforts, the report notes, have been limited to six major lakes—Dal Lake, Wular Lake, Hokersar Wetland, Manasbal Lake, Surinsar Lake and Mansar Lake. For the remaining 691 lakes, the Forest Department neither identified eligible water bodies nor prepared proposals for central assistance under environment ministry schemes.
The report further notes that only about one per cent (Rs 560.65 crore) of the Union Territory’s CAPEX budget between 2017 and 2022 was allocated to these six lakes.
On Dal Lake, the audit flags multiple issues, including land-use changes due to non-acquisition of encroached land, malfunctioning sewage treatment plants, ineffective de-weeding, and weak monitoring mechanisms.
The CAG has recommended setting up a centralised and specialised authority with adequate resources for coordinated lake management, along with deployment of skilled personnel such as environmental and hydrological engineers, wetland ecologists, and GIS specialists.