STATE TIMES NEWS
JAMMU: Despite a plan launched to revive traditional Talabs (ponds) in Jammu by the government, most of them are vanishing fast as the civic bodies have failed to take any step to save them.
This was stated by State President, Kranti Dal, Pritam Sharma, while addressing a press conference here on Friday.
“About 20 years back besides drinking, people were dependent on pond water for day-today-activities, but now the pond in our locality has turned filthy, where people dump their household waste”, he said.
“The ever-increasing population has pushed these precious sources of maintaining eco-balance to a premature death. Most of them have either turned into garbage dumping sites or encroached to make way for shopping complexes by land grabbers,” he added.
The Municipal Corporation (MC) had announced a plan to beautify and remove their encroachment, but only thing they did was erecting signboard, he said adding that not a penny has been spent to prevent their destruction.
“At Gujjar Mohalla Paloura, the area around the pond has been taken over by butchers, who throw waste of slaughtered animals in the water. The pond has been reduced to just a sewerage pit,” he said.
He asked State Government to wake up from deep slumber and initiate immediate steps to revive these traditional water bodies to maintain the century old heritage of Jammu and Kashmir.
