Kulgam, May 26: On Sunday morning under a clear sky, residents from nearly a dozen villages gathered at Panzath, a quaint village located 2 km from south Kashmir’s Qazigund area, for their annual festival of cleaning the Panzath Nag (spring).
Throughout the day, the residents, carrying wicker baskets, were seen wading through chest-deep waters in the spring, diligently cleaning and fishing.
Around 200 to 250 people participated in the festival.
Umaisar Gull, a resident told Greater Kashmir that the cleaning process includes de-weeding and de-slitting.
The festival is being celebrated annually, usually in the last week of May.
On this day, hundreds of residents team up to clean the water body and catch fish.
They also spruce up the surroundings of the spring.
The practice, according to the residents, has been going on for many decades.
“The main motive of the festival is to keep the water clean,” said Abdul Salam Wani, a resident.
Wani said that people from several other districts including Srinagar and Anantnag also participated in the festival.
“Additionally, it serves as an excellent source of trout fish,” Wani said.
In 2022, the water body produced fish worth Rs 18.50 lakh.
The spring supplies drinking water to over a dozen villages and also irrigates a vast expanse of agricultural land in the area.
An official said that the spring, which discharges 6448 million liters per day (MLD) is the source of several water supply schemes.
“At least eight water supply schemes rely on the spring in the area,” he said.
The festival attracted more attention after Prime Minister Narendra Modi, last year, mentioned it in his monthly radio broadcast ‘Mann Ki Baat’.
The residents are calling for the village to be declared a tourist destination, given its natural beauty and abundance of water bodies.
According to them, the village is home to 500 springs.
“Despite the government’s assurances of developing the village, nothing has been done so far,” said a resident.