Environmental hygiene in Srinagar: A shared responsibility for a cleaner future
The city’s revival will not come through words alone but through everyday acts of care, where every citizen becomes a guardian of its environment and every institution a partner in its preservation.
Mohammad Hanief
Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, has long been celebrated as a city of enchanting beauty. Its shimmering lakes, the gentle flow of the Jhelum, and the majestic Chinars together form an image of serenity that has inspired poets, travellers, and dreamers for centuries. Yet beneath this image of timeless calm, the city today grapples with a silent but serious crisis—an erosion of its environmental hygiene that threatens both its ecological health and its cultural soul.
The expanding urban sprawl, growing population, and changing lifestyles have placed immense strain on Srinagar’s fragile environment. Waste management, sanitation, and pollution control—cornerstones of a healthy city—have struggled to keep pace with the demands of modern life. The challenge before Srinagar is not simply to clean its streets and waterways, but to rebuild an ethic of shared responsibility, where citizens and institutions together safeguard the city’s natural heritage.
The problem begins with the city’s mounting burden of solid waste. Every day, hundreds of metric tons of refuse are generated from households, shops, markets, and institutions. The majority of this waste remains unsegregated, with biodegradable and non-biodegradable materials mixed together, complicating efforts at disposal or recycling. Much of it ends up at the Achan landfill site on the city’s outskirts, which has been in operation for decades and has long exceeded its designed capacity. What was once a controlled dumping ground has grown into a vast mound of mixed waste, emitting an unpleasant odour and leaching contaminants into nearby water bodies. For residents of surrounding areas, this has become a daily ordeal that starkly reflects the city’s wider environmental neglect.
Even beyond the landfill, signs of poor waste management are visible across Srinagar. Roadside dumping, open littering, and overflowing bins mar the beauty of neighbourhoods and markets alike. Though the Srinagar Municipal Corporation has introduced door-to-door collection and mechanical street cleaning in several areas, these measures remain inconsistent. Without a disciplined system of segregation at the source and public cooperation, even the most modern infrastructure cannot yield lasting results.
Srinagar’s lakes and rivers, once the pride of Kashmir’s landscape, are among the greatest casualties of this environmental lapse. The Dal and Nigeen Lakes, long admired for their crystal-clear waters, have become symbols of ecological distress. Unchecked sewage inflow, detergents from households, and indiscriminate dumping of waste have led to a process of slow suffocation. The water has grown murky, aquatic life has declined, and the once-picturesque houseboat clusters now sit amid dense weed growth. Despite years of cleaning operations and restoration projects by the Lake Conservation and Management Authority, the challenge persists because the problem extends beyond the lakes themselves—it begins in the way the city manages its sewage, its drains, and its daily habits.
The Jhelum River, which winds through the heart of the city, has not escaped a similar fate. Once a symbol of Srinagar’s vitality, it now carries with it silt, debris, and pollutants from its banks and tributaries. In many areas, domestic waste and plastic find their way directly into the river, turning it into a channel of urban effluent rather than a living waterway. This gradual degradation is not just an environmental concern but a moral one, for it reflects the city’s fading connection with the very water that has shaped its history and livelihood.
The air, too, bears witness to the changing rhythm of Srinagar’s environment. During the long winter months, the valley’s still atmosphere traps smoke from coal, firewood, and biomass used for heating homes, creating a haze that blurs the skyline and irritates the lungs. The rapid growth of vehicular traffic, often with outdated and poorly maintained engines, adds to the burden of particulate pollution. Construction dust and open burning of waste further darken the air. Though these issues may appear seasonal or incidental, together they erode the health and comfort of urban life in ways that are both visible and invisible.
Drainage and sanitation form another part of the city’s struggle for hygiene. Srinagar’s drainage system, much of which was designed decades ago, cannot cope with modern population density or shifting rainfall patterns. During heavy downpours, waterlogging has become a recurring spectacle across the city’s low-lying areas, disrupting traffic and posing health risks through stagnant pools and blocked sewers. The absence of a fully functional sewage treatment network means that large quantities of wastewater flow untreated into natural water bodies, aggravating pollution and undermining conservation efforts.
While the government and its agencies carry a significant share of responsibility, the larger story of environmental hygiene in Srinagar also rests upon public behaviour. Cleanliness campaigns and policy measures can only succeed when citizens understand and embrace their role in sustaining them. Yet, casual littering, dumping of household waste into drains, and the continued use of banned plastics remain widespread. Tourist zones such as Boulevard Road, Dal Gate, and the Mughal Gardens often suffer from heaps of discarded bottles, wrappers, and polythene—an irony in places meant to showcase the city’s beauty. The indifference that accompanies such acts is perhaps the most serious obstacle to reform, for no amount of official effort can substitute for civic conscience.
Over the past few years, various initiatives have sought to address these challenges. The Srinagar Smart City Mission has introduced mechanical cleaning systems, improved waste transport, and installed public conveniences in busy locations. The Swachh Bharat Abhiyan has promoted awareness in schools and communities, encouraging people to see cleanliness as a shared duty rather than a mere slogan. The Lake Conservation and Management Authority continues its restoration drives, while civic bodies and non-governmental groups regularly organize cleanliness campaigns. These efforts mark progress, but they remain fragmented and often short-lived, diluted by poor coordination and lack of continuity. Environmental hygiene cannot be achieved through occasional drives or isolated projects; it demands a sustained and city-wide discipline that extends from institutions to households.
To truly restore Srinagar’s environmental health, the approach must be comprehensive and inclusive. Waste management has to begin at the source, with households separating biodegradable from non-biodegradable materials. Decentralized composting and recycling facilities can reduce the load on landfills and create employment at the community level. The drainage and sewage networks require urgent modernization, ensuring that untreated waste no longer enters the lakes and rivers. Public education must move beyond slogans to a deeper understanding of the link between cleanliness, health, and dignity.
Tourism, which sustains much of Srinagar’s economy, must also evolve into a cleaner, greener model. Designating eco-friendly zones around the city’s key attractions, enforcing penalties for littering, and encouraging sustainable hospitality practices can help preserve both beauty and reputation. Local youth, schools, and religious institutions can play a transformative role by fostering civic pride and environmental stewardship. When people begin to view the cleanliness of their surroundings as a reflection of their own character and community, real change follows naturally.
The path forward for Srinagar lies in collective responsibility. Government bodies must plan, enforce, and monitor, but citizens must cooperate, participate, and uphold. Each act of carelessness—a plastic bag tossed into a drain, a garbage heap ignored—is a setback to the city’s well-being. Conversely, each act of mindfulness—a segregated bin, a cleaned lane, a planted tree—contributes to a healthier, more livable city.
Srinagar has endured centuries of change—political, cultural, and climatic—and has always found resilience in its people and its environment. Today, that resilience must take the form of environmental responsibility. The restoration of its hygiene and ecological balance is not merely an administrative task but a moral obligation owed to its lakes, its land, and its future generations.
The beauty of Srinagar has always been its greatest identity. Protecting that beauty now requires an awakening of both systems and spirit. A cleaner Srinagar is not a dream beyond reach; it is a duty within grasp. The city’s revival will not come through words alone but through everyday acts of care, where every citizen becomes a guardian of its environment and every institution a partner in its preservation. Only then will Srinagar truly reclaim its timeless harmony—where nature and people coexist in cleanliness, dignity, and pride.
