Typical of damaging policy inconsistencies is the case of the Wullar lake - once regarded as Asia's largest freshwater body - that has shrunk in size from its original 204 sq km to the present 74.
India's environment ministry recently approved a new and controversial project to revive Wullar that calls for the cutting down of some two million willow trees that surround the lake.
On Jun. 2, then environment minister Jairam Ramesh said at a press conference in New Delhi: "Wullar lake has paid its price. Wullar used to be the largest freshwater lake in Asia. Today it is a patch of green. You can't see any water... only willow trees."
Ramesh, who was shifted to the rural development ministry on Jul. 12 in a cabinet reshuffle, said 90 million US dollars have been set aside for the Wullar revival project under a wetland conservation programme. Read the full report here.
Source: by Athar Parvaiz, IPS, Srinagar.
