Time our lakes are rejuvenated

After four successive years of drought and untold hardships to the people, particularly farmers whose livelihoods depend on timely rain, one would have thought that the Karnataka government would be working on a comprehensive plan to mitigate such situations. Among the obvious steps required would have been to revive and preserve lakes, tanks, ponds and other water bodies, which have seen a rapid deterioration or death over the years. Unfortunately, for the Siddaramaiah government, which has been in power through these four years, preservation and rejuvenation of sources of water do not seem to be a matter of priority. On the contrary, the government has drawn up a reckless “master plan” for denotification of what it terms as dried up lakes, ponds and other water bodies across the state.

A circular issued by the revenue department to several other departments dealing with common sources of water has asked them to identify and list such water bodies “which have lost their original features” and sought their views on using the dry beds for “public purposes”. Another equally hideous proposal is to bring all existing, live water bodies under the unitary control of the minor irrigation department. First and foremost, as is well known, growing population and urbanisation has resulted in the shrinking supply of sources of fresh water, forcing the poor and marginalised sections of society to walk for miles to obtain water for their meagre needs. It is the duty of any civilised society to attend to their basic requirement.

It’s also known that lakes and ponds which dry up temporarily in times of persistent drought, can easily be revived by sustained efforts at rejuvenation. Instead of taking up such vital, pro-people measures, the state government seems to be working at the behest of land sharks and organised mafias with obvious political connections to enable them to gobble up lake beds for converting them into sites. The Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department, which controls around 22,000 water bodies across the state, has strongly opposed the denotification. It has pointed out that in the past, the department has taken measures to recharge water bodies successfully, which in turn improved the ground water table. Even in Bengaluru, which boasted of hundreds of lakes at one time, now has less than 200 lakes. There are inspiring examples of rejuvenation of lakes at Puttenahalli, Chunchughatta, Kunalahalli and Jakkur with the help and cooperation of the local people. The government should immediately drop its “killer” proposals and demonstrate its commitment to augment rather than diminish the available sources of clean water.