The bell tolls for the lady’s lake
Dying a slow death
Dumping of waste and garbage is threatening to choke the life out of the beautiful Chikka Hoo Arasikatte near here.
The historic lake was built by the consort of Kempe Gowda III, Chikka Hoo Arasi of Sathanur, whose comely name in Kannada translates to ‘younger flower queen.’ The lake is created by the construction of a dam across the Kanva River.
Scenic lake
The scenic lake with its backdrop of the Tirumale Hill is a familiar sight on the road between Magadi and Bangalore. It is 20 ft at its deepest and is perennially full thanks to the rain water run-off from the Tirumale Hill.
It has a valley extending into hundreds of acres and the banks of the lake are lined with stones set centuries ago.
The picture postcard lake, with its thousands of lotuses is threatened by extinction due to owners of trucks and commercial vehicles washing their vehicles and throwing waste including plastic bags and other disposables in the water. To add insult to injury, garbage from Bangalore is also dumped in the once-pristine lake.
Worse, the water is used for washing clothes, with soap and detergents polluting the lake.
The lake, besides being a beautiful water body, also provided drinking water for cattle and other animals.
Youngsters from the town swam in it during summer holidays. Elected representatives and government officers, who travel on the road, stop their vehicles at the lake and admire its beauty, but do not seem to have noticed the multiple threats posed to it.
And they seem to be bat-blind to the latest threat, the watershed area being used as a burial ground.
And if nothing is done soon, the lake too may be buried, under the waste that is so unthinkingly dumped in it.
