Borders eating into lake; residents look for help

Honnammana kere faces threat of being encroached

Honnammana kere which covers 16 acre land in Doddamalthe village of Somwarpet is considered as the biggest lake in Kodagu district. Unfortunately, about four to five acre area of the lake has been encroached by the public.

The revenue department had surveyed the area of the lake and had submitted a detailed report on the encroached land.

However, no action has been initiated to reclaim the encroached land, said Doddamalthe Gram Panchayat president D M Gopalakrishna.

Few lakes in Somwarpet taluk are used for irrigation purpose. As majority of the lakes are filled with silt, it does not serve the purpose for which it was constructed. Hence, majority of the lakes get dried during summer.

However, Honnammana Kere flows throughout the year. Villager Belliappa said “the work on desilting was carried out last year. Nevertheless, it was not carried out fully. Hence, there is a need to remove the filled silt from the lake.”

One side of the lake has ‘Gavi betta’ and the other side has ‘More betta.’

The lake has not gone dry so far during summer. The Honnammana Kere irrigates water to over 200 acre agriculture land in Doddamalthe, Abboorukatte, Masagodum Doddabburu and Harohalli. Canals have been constructed to supply water to the fields. A retaining wall has been constructed in the lake so that there is no fear of leakage of water.

About Rs 50 lakh has been utilised for repairing the lake since the time of former minister Jeevijaya till date.

Honnamma Thayi and Basaveshwara temple is situated on the banks of the lake. The temple committee members have beautified the lake at an estimated cost of Rs 10 lakh. The practice of newly married couple offering baagina to the lake is common in the region.

Gopalakrishna said “the lake should be developed as a tourist spot. Boating facility should be introduced. In the interest of the public, fencing should be done around the lake.”

Honnamma Basaveshwara Temple priest Veerayya Hiremutt said, “the residents have been urging the government to develop the lake into a tourist spot by introducing boating facility. The silt should be removed, so that more water can be stored.”