Overview
- The CAG audit, released Thursday, reports a net loss of 2,851.26 hectares as 315 lakes disappeared and 203 shrank across Jammu and Kashmir.
- Auditors say the loss weakens natural flood buffers and biodiversity, noting reduced lake capacity as a factor in the 2014 J&K floods.
- The report traces the decline to land-use change in lake bodies and catchments, deforestation, climate pressures, and unregulated human activity.
- The review covered 63 lakes that make up 87% of total lake area using satellite images, remote sensing, surveys, and field checks, finding some lakes nearly dry and severe degradation in Khushal Sar and Anchar.
- Oversight remains fragmented, with conservation work centered on six lakes and no plans for 255 forest-run lakes, while agencies did not study why 150 lakes actually grew in area.