Today's houseboat phenomenon can be traced back to the ingenuity of 19th-century British administrators in India, who travelled across the North each year in search of relief from the scorching heat in the plains, but they were not allowed to buy land in Kashmir.
In order to overcome this dilemma, they hired boats that carried rice and other supplies and then converted them into summer homes. This trend expanded, especially over the past century, and most of these old boats have been converted into "houseboats", which are now a popular tourist attraction. Moreover, they have also been featured in many Bollywood films.
However, waste from the boats has flowed into Srinagar's bodies of water, which prompted the authorities to curb their reconstruction.
As a result, several houseboats in Kashmir are sinking, thereby imperiling the fate of hundreds of families.
Sputnik spoke to Ghulam Qadir Gassi, a houseboat owner, who lost his home to the Jhelum River.