High court shuts down houseboats on Dal lake

Come summer, tourists visiting Srinagar may not be able to rent a houseboat on the famous Dal lake. The Jammu and Kashmir high court, on February 25, ordered the government to close down all houseboats. The owners will be allowed to resume operations if they instal sewage disposal units in the houseboats. Dal lake has about 1,000 houseboats and in the absence of a disposal system, they flush their lavatories directly into the lake.

The high court order derives sanction from a report submitted by the state pollution control board (spcb), which said the houseboats were contributing to the lake