Local citizens take up the cause of the vanishing Naini lake
Savitri Bisht (76) a retired teacher and resident of Nainital has never seen Naini lake in such a horrible condition. The big mass of debris, foul smell of dead fishes and garbage welcomes tourist’s visiting Nainital to beat the scorching summer in the plains. The lake that is a major tourist attraction has fed the locals residing in the British town since it was founded in 1841. However owing to unregulated construction, encroachment of the lake’s catchment area and change in the rain patterns has taken a toll on the lake, say experts.
The deltas or dry land emerges whenever there is less water in the lake. It had been a regular feature during summers but since last one year the levels has gone down abysmally low by nearly 14 feet below norm clearly showing signs of ‘ecological disaster’. According to a study the maximum depth of the lake was recorded at 27 meters in 2000.
“I have never seen earth moving machines and dogs roaming in the vast deltas. I feel like crying on seeing the condition of the lake and this town” says Savitri.
The summers is a major business time for the local businessmen including hotel owners, boat operators etc. The numbers of colourful boats roaming in the lake are no more exciting for the tourists tells Jagdish Ram, a boatman who is into profession since last 22 years.
“As the area of the lake shrinking, tourists ask what happened to it and we have no concrete answer” Jagdhish says. He is among 150 odd people whose economy is directly dependent on the boating in the lake whose circumference was last recorded 4.7 square kilometers.
Environmentalist Ajay Rawat who filed two litigations one in the Supreme Court in 1993 and another in 2015 High Court raising issues of preserving catchment area of the lake and banning constructions in the town says it will take years if the lake has to be preserved in its original form.
“Presently 1.5 crore liters water is required everyday for town and that comes from the lake. The major catchment of the lake – Sukhatal Lake – has been encroached upon, the constructions around lake in the hilly area has further hindered the perpetuation of water in the lake” Rawat shares.
As per Rawat, the change in the rain pattern and drying up of almost half of the 60 natural water springs have also led to the serious problem. The illegal felling of trees particularly oak trees, known for conserving water is also a major concern for the locals. Recently National Green Tribunal has shot a notice to the forest department for axing more than 200 oak trees from the high altitude zoo in the town.
Concerned with the situation number of Nainitalies, many of them residing in Delhi and other cities have formed a group called ‘Citizens for Nainital’. The group is actively involving people on social media to sign an online petition and suggest ways to preserve the lake.
“Our aim is to bring maximum people on board and do a brainstorming on ways to save lake. We are taking a barefoot walk on June 3 in Nainital” Vikram Arya one who started the group told HT.
In fact, Nainital Lake Development Authority is in place to keep a tab on the construction activities. Shirish Kumar, secretary of the authority says despite being short staffed they are doing their bit. He claims the authority is working on moving people from the green zone as per High Court orders on Ajay Rawat’s petition.