The urgency to save Srinagar 's Dal Lake from encroachment and pollution is as important as countering terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir , a standing committee of Parliament which intervened in the matter has acknowledged. The famous Dal Lake of Srinagar, which sustains the livelihood of more than 50,000 people, has shrunk 50 per cent from its original size of 22 sq km to merely 11 sq km due to encroachment and pollution. In 1998, Helmut Kroiss, professor at the Vienna University had reported,