Harvesters imported to remove weeds in Dal Lake

The Jammu and Kashmir Government recently imported two harvesters from the USA to remove weeds from the famous Dal Lake in Srinagar.

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir Government recently imported two harvesters from the USA to remove weeds from the famous Dal Lake in Srinagar.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Mushtaq Jan, executive engineer, Lakes and Waterways Development Authority, said they had ordered the customized machinery so that they could reach places where earlier machinery could not.

"Since these are customized machines, so they will benefit the Dal Lake a lot. These machines can do weed harvesting in places where our older machines could not as they need more draft. For these machines we had already told suppliers about the draft, the depth and stability.” He said.

“Since it is made up of new technology, so, the speed is also five times more than the older machines. In a very shot span of time, we will get to see the effective maintenance of the lake," he added.

For effective use of the machinery, David D. Dauffenbach, an engineer from the USA, has been giving training to officials in the region.

Dauffenbach said the capacity and speed of harvesting the weeds is much more than the earlier ones and continues to work throughout.

"It will cut the weeds and bring them up on the conveyor. The weeds go up into a storage conveyor which is on the deck of the boat and as they build the pile of weeds on the deck of the boat on the storage conveyor, they move it back about one metre and then build another pile, move it back about one metre and build the pile, build the pile and move it back about one metre till the boat is full and then we come with the transport boat on which we standing right now," he added.

Expressing happiness, Mohammad Saleem, a houseboat owner, said the way the harvester is working, the lake will be clear very soon.

"As we can see this is an American technology made up of modern machinery and equipment, so this will clear more weeds at the time. This machine is performing two- three times better than in comparison to the way earlier machines used to work. So, this will benefit a lot to the lake and if this will continue then it will clear weeds very soon," he added.

Dal Lake is one of the important tourist attractions in the Kashmir Valley and the excessive growth of the weeds has been hampering the beauty of the lake.

Bureau Report

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