Preserving Kashmir’s houseboats

Jammu and Kashmir administration has decided to provide subsidised timber for repairs and maintenance of houseboats and taxi shikaras and the decision has been hailed by all those involved in the trade. The houseboat owners have been complaining from past several years that the concerned authorities are not allowing them to repair their houseboats. With the sole motive of discouraging further houseboats to emerge on the waters of Dal and Nigin Lakes, the authorities had made even the process of renovating existing houseboats cumbersome. The houseboat owners, from who their boats are the only source of livelihood, have been complaining that as they are not being permitted to renovate their boats, they have been losing the clientele and also risking the very existence of their boats. However, their woes had gone unheard for reasons that houseboats are being propagated as the sole source of pollution of the Dal Lake, which in reality is not true. There are huge hotels and other establishments including government owned Hotel Cantuer and SKICC, on the banks of Dal, that pollute the waters more than the houseboats. However, there is a common perception that houseboats are responsible for all ills and therefore the pleas of the owners to renovate their boats would not get any sympathetic audience.
In this backdrop, the UT government’s decision to provide subsidised timber to the owners of houseboats and taxi shikaras has come as a big relief to the owners of houseboats and shikaras. With the government deciding to provide subsidised timber to the concerned, it has been made clear that the owners can go for renovation and repairs. The government has decided that the timber will be provided for minor/periodical repairs and upkeep of registered houseboats on 50 percent concessional rate up to a maximum of 70 percent requirement or 30 cubic feet, whichever is less, through the Forest department and the timber will be provided to the beneficiaries once in six years. Similarly, for reconstruction and major repairs of houseboats, the timber will be provided on a one-time basis, on 50 percent concessional rate up to a maximum of 70 percent of the requirement or 80 cubic feet, whichever is less.
The decision made by the government will go a long way in saving the houseboats in Srinagar lakes. Those who see these houseboats as eyesore and blame the same for the dilapidated condition of Dal need to understand that houseboats are not mere commercial establishments but part of Kashmir heritage. Though not much literature is available about the history of houseboats in Kashmir, some claim that houseboats have been present on the Dal Lake and Nagin lakes since the 1800s. Some trace the houseboat phenomenon back to the 1880s, to a shop owner named Pandit Naraindas, who catered to foreign tourists. When his shop burned down, it is said Naraindas moved his inventory to a small boat used by the boat-dwelling Hanjis and moored it. His became the first proper houseboat after some modifications. Naraindas later sold his boat to a European, saw the potential in the concept, and began commissioning boats. He became known as Naav Narain in the local community, and his first houseboat was named Kashmir Princess. However, the famous British explorer, Sir Francis Younghusband, is known to have credited one MT Kennard with the idea of a ‘floating house’ between the years 1883 and 1888. It is said that for a long time locals used to call these ‘the boats of ‘Kennad Sahib’. Younghusband wrote that by 1906 there were hundreds of houseboats in Kashmir. Whatever the narrative one may believe, fact of the matter is that houseboats are a treasured heritage of Kashmir and should thus be preserved. In this direction, the government’s decision of allowing the repairs and sanctioning subsidized timber for the purpose is appreciable.