Kashmir's famous 'shikaras' soon in Hathaikheda dam

BHOPAL: Bhopalites need not visit Dal Lake of Kashmir to experience the joy of boating in 'shikaras' as they can now enjoy it in city's Hathaikheda dam.
The dam, a little ahead of Anand Nagar on Raisen Road, will soon have a boat club. "We are planning to develop a boat club with a proper pavement. The salient feature of the place will be the shikhara boats, which are prevalent only in Kashmir," said BMC commissioner Rajneesh Shrivastava."The encroachments from the catchment area have been removed. The CPA has been asked to renew the road connection from city to Hathiakheda dam. The BMC and the state tourism department are developing it into a proper tourist spot," he said.
More than 5,000 different kinds of trees have been planted in this part of the city to make it environmental-friendly, officials said. He added that a light fountain has also been installed to make this place attractive and to purify the water.
These facilities are being developed in an approximate area of more than 750 acre catchment area of the dam, which will make the Hathaikeda Dam the second largest water body of the state capital. Numerous organisations are being roped in to help develop and complete the prestigious Hathaikheda Dam project, BMC officials said
The work of plantation along dam side, development of a bird sanctuary and renovation of the roads has been completed in co-ordination of the CPA. The boat club and the decoration of the place are being looked after by the state tourism department while the water treatment and streetlight fitting work has been done by BMC.
"This is a long and a never ending process. Since this is a huge project, it will take some time for the work to complete," the commissioner said.