Explanation:

Recently, a review meeting was held in the wake of an application submitted by an environmentalist group before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on pollution and encroachment in water bodies in Kashmir.

As per independent reports, the Dal Lake has shrunk to about 10 square kilometers from its original area of 22 square kilometers owing to unchecked encroachment over the years.

However, Jammu and Kashmir government has given a clean chit to any kind of intrusion on the water body.

In June 1986, then the state government first put a moratorium on construction within the lake.

In 2002, the High court observed that the ban should apply to any kind of construction within 200 metres from the Dal lake periphery.

However, despite these measures, encroachment on the water body has continued unabated.

Many hotels, shops and residential houses have been built inside the Dal lake unabated.