After three decades, Lotuses return to Kashmir’s Wular lake

At dawn, as the mist lifts off the waters of Wular Lake, a quiet miracle unfolds — acres of pink lotuses bloom once again, painting India’s largest freshwater lake with memories, hope, and renewal.

Abdul Rashid Dar, 43, sits silently at the lake’s edge in Bandipora, his fingers brushing the delicate petals. “When I was a child, I helped my father harvest lotus stems here,” he says. “I thought we had lost this gift of God forever.”

That gift has returned — after three long decades.

The resurgence of lotuses in Wular Lake, absent since a devastating flood in 1992, is the result of tireless ecological restoration led by the Wular Conservation and Management Authority (WUCMA). Once buried under layers of flood-deposited silt, dormant lotus seeds are now sprouting again — a quiet but profound transformation of a wounded ecosystem.

Nestled between Bandipora and Sopore in north Kashmir, Wular Lake spans over 200 square kilometers. Once a vibrant bed of lotus, it suffered extensive ecological damage during the floods of September 1992. The disaster clogged the lake with silt, choking its water flow and extinguishing the native vegetation — and with it, the traditional livelihoods of those who depended on harvesting Nadru (lotus stem), a Kashmiri delicacy.

In 2020, WUCMA launched an ambitious rejuvenation plan, dredging the lake to remove decades of accumulated silt. “We’ve removed over 79 lakh cubic meters of silt,” says former WUCMA official Owais Farooq Mir. “This has helped restore natural water movement and allowed the buried lotus seeds to surface again.”

Zonal officer Mudasir Ahmad notes that lotus growth began reappearing last year in the desilted patches. This year, the authority reinforced the revival by dispersing additional lotus seeds.

An economic and cultural revival

The return of lotus is more than just ecological; it brings with it the possibility of reviving a vanishing way of life. For generations, local families relied on harvesting Nadru, which is painstakingly retrieved by hand from chest-deep waters and sold across the Valley.

“It’s almost a miracle,” says Dar, whose father once made a living off lotus stem farming. “Last year when the first flowers bloomed, we protected them like treasure. We couldn’t bear to lose them again.”

From September to March — a period with few employment options — the harvesting of Nadru now offers seasonal income for many.

The future of Wular

Despite the early signs of recovery, challenges persist. Wular remains vulnerable to silt and waste flowing in from the Jhelum River and its 25 feeder streams. To counter this, WUCMA is constructing retention basins to trap waste before it enters the lake.

“The lake’s revival is ongoing,” says Ahmad. “Our aim is not only ecological restoration but also restoring the livelihoods and traditions linked to Wular.”

Ghulam Hassan Reshi of Lankreshipora village recalls the lotus bloom of his childhood: “That year, in ’92, the lake was full of lotus. And then, nothing. For years, we scattered seeds in vain. But the dredging changed everything.”

As young boys now gather at the lake’s edge, capturing the pink blossoms on their phones, elders like Abdul Aziz Dar watch with guarded optimism. “This time,” he says, “we’ll harvest carefully. We’ve waited 30 years — and we’re not losing it again.”