AP PHOTOS: Weeds, sewage choke Kashmir's famed Dal Lake
ABC News
SRINAGAR, India -- Boatman Noor Muhammad struggles to row as his boat moves deep into famed Dal Lake in Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir. He presses hard on his oar to untangle the vessel from thick vegetation.
“It is very difficult to paddle through most of the lake,” he complains. He says authorities “spend a lot of money but they don’t clean it properly.”
Weeds, silt and untreated sewage are increasingly choking the sprawling scenic lake, which dominates the city and draws tens of thousands of tourists each year.
Dal Lake appears pristine in the area where hundreds of exquisitely decorated houseboats bob on its surface for rent by tourists and honeymooners. But farther from shore, the lake is a mixture of mossy swamps, thick weeds, trash-strewn patches and floating gardens made from rafts of reeds.
