Kashmir’s Cheshmashahi dries up as water flows to VIPs

Now, there is hardly a trickle of water in the two fish-shaped stone ducts surrounded by jawans from para-military forces, wielding guns and plastic cans to carry back the spring water for their bosses.

Gulam Dar, Cheshmashahi’s head gardener says there has hardly been any water in the spring since the past four or five days and that the poor monsoon alone could not be blamed. He lifts the lid of anunderground tank in which a new inch-and-half pipe has replaced the earlier three-fourth inch pipe carrying the spring water to the huts of the Tourism Development Corporation (TRC) where the VIPs stay. To increase the water pressure, the pipe has been dug six feet deep into the garden terrace and taken to a nearby tank.

This, the gardeners explain, was the second major diversion of Cheshmashahi’s water. The first diversion was done to carry water for the adjoining Raj Bhavan and the Nehru Guest House, also meant for VVIPs, at the time of Maharaja Hari Singh. The supply of water to the Raj Bhavan has been uninterrupted, ever since.

They say that in March this year, when contractors suddenly arrived in the Mughal Garden to lay the pipes, they had strongly resisted the move. For one week they did not permit the laying of pipes. But when the contractors produced the “authorisation” for the work and they had no option.

The letter, dated March 30, was signed by a Joint Director of the Horticulture, Gardensand Parks Department. It cited an order which stated that the workers “may be allowed to excavate the land at Mughal Garden Cheshmashahi for laying of water supply pipes…subject to that the damages if caused to Government property be got good by them on spot.”

J K Gandotra, Director of the Department is not aware of the developments and the scarcity of water in the Cheshmashahi Springs. He says he will “immediately” take steps to stop the supply of water to the TRC complex. He says three months ago he had intervened to stop construction of 30-odd huts which the Tourism Department wanted to put up inside the National Botanical Gardens, located close to Cheshmashahi.

Gandotra’s deputy, Joint Director A R Masoodi, however, is aware of the problem and says a solution has been eluding him since May. “I have been trying to locate the precise orders due to which the new pipe was laid but it is nowhere to be found,” he says. “I have now given orders for a stopcork to be obtained to stop or regulate theflow of water to the TRC complex. Cheshmashahi’s spring turning dry is a very, very serious matter for us.”

As the officials vacillate, the fortunate few who obtain permission to visit the royal springs are returning home disappointed. Abdul Aziz says he walked a long distance for two consecutive days to find the spring dry. “People from all over India try and get a sip of this water. This is a sacred spot for us,” he says.