Men in uniform roll up sleeves to restore lake
on february 1, the army was out in full strength in Bhopal. They were not out to tackle riots or terrorists but in
response to the city administration's appeal to citizens to solve a civic crisis. The Bada Taal, the main drinking water source of the city, had
shrunk by three-fourths and authorities had asked people to help restore the lake under a shramdaan (voluntary work) programme.
Bhopal has been facing acute water shortage the past few years. When the lake, fed by river Kolans, was reduced to less than 8 sq km in
November 2008, there was a crisis. Residents got water supply for just one hour on alternate days. Army camps were equally affected prompting
army corps commander Lt General A S Lamba to order operation jal sahayata. Officers and jawans pitched in with 14,000 man-hours to
desilt Bada Taal and Bairagarh lake.
Over 50,000 people including celebrities have pitched in, said Arvind Dubey, additional commissioner of Bhopal. He said 150,000 square feet
area in the lake would be treated and the work completed by June-end at a cost of Rs 70 crore. Earlier, encroachments were cleared from over
2,000 hectares of catchment area of the lake. Scientists with the non-profit Lake Conservation Society said 0.6 metres of silt would be removed
in the area under treatment. But desilting alone will not solve the problem.
"Desilting will help improve storage for a few years but for the long term health of the lake, we need to take the watershed approach," said R
Sreenivasa Murthy, conservator of forest and member secretary of the state ecosystem services cell. He said excess pumping of groundwater,
agriculture and construction of houses has affected the entire river basin.
A watershed approach would require afforestation and soil and moisture conservation in the Kolans river basin, said Murthy.
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