The other day the Times of India
reported the increasing pollution in Bhopal’s Upper Lake. It is choking with
discarded plastic bags, bottles and other non-biodegradable waste. The Boat
Club area is visited by hordes of people and they thoughtlessly leave behind waste
unmindful of the consequences on the very water they might be drinking.
The Times of India’s “I lead
India” campaigners have decided to clean up the 2 km stretch along the Boat
Club as things have assumed serious proportions. This, however, will not help
unless measures are undertaken to prevent pollution and cleaning it up on a
regular continuing basis.
Apart from the wastes that are
deposited every day by the visitors the Lake receives more than 140 tonnes of
solid wastes in direct or indirect form. Limnologists, who have studied the
quality of the water of the Lake, have now opined that its consumption is risky
for humans. With so much of waste being pumped into the Lake, they fear, its
waters will lose potability in (not too distant) future. If that happened it
would be a serious setback to water availability in Bhopal 40% people of which
are dependent on it for their water. Already, the researchers have found that
aquatic life of the Lake has seriously been affected and a decline in its flora
and fauna has been noticed.
The Municipal Corporation, the
custodian of the Lake, has failed to take care of it. Over the last few years
it had initiated crores-worth of projects to stop the inflow of solid wastes
from drains that empty into the Lake but with remarkable failure. It banned the
plying of motorised boats in the Lake years ago but has failed to implement it.
No wonder, motorised boats and the cruise boat ply in the Lake regularly with
impunity. One could hardly ever come
across a more worthless civic body.
The mounting accumulation of
filth and pollutants in the Boat Club area is a gift to the people of Bhopal from
the minister of urban administration with whom the local Tourism Corporation
admirably collaborated. Much against the well-accepted environmental norms they
have, together, literally campaigned to get more visitors to the Boat Club area
and consequently more filth pollutants in the Lake. Though they claim they were
trying to get more tourists but the efforts resulted in hordes of local
visitors landing up regularly at the Lake front only to pollute it. The
minister went out of his way to get a vintage steam locomotive installed near
the Lake along with a model of a naval warship to attract visitors. One wonders
as to why he didn’t get an air force plane and a vintage omnibus for the
Lake-side decor. The Tourism Corporation even organised functions at the Boat
Club to get hundreds of people to witness the “tamashas” they staged even though a surfeit of venues is available in
the town for holding such jamborees using the fig leaf of creating awareness
among people for conservation of the water body.
Besides, with encouragement from
the minister the Tourism Corporation created a massive amusement facility,
“sair sapata” at Prempura close to the Important Bird Area of the Lake
unmindful of the consequences on the Lake . Predictably, most of the migratory
species have since given up the Upper Lake for roosting threatening the Wetland’s Ramsar status. (Birdlife International
should take a note of It)The Ramsar organisation recognises a wetland as a Ramsar
site only if it provides favourable conditions for domestic and migratory water
fowl which the Upper Lake now fails to do.
The local government has been indulging in doublespeak. While claiming concern for the Upper Lake it has practically shelved all efforts towards its conservation. Even the development and conservation plan prepared at its instance by the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology, Ahmedabad has been kept under wraps till the next elections. The local people should realise
that the Upper Lake and the Bhoj Wetland is under serious threat. I have been
constantly writing about it for the last ten years or so. But there has been no
change in the official attitude. The Bhoj Wetland Project – a 5-year project
that ran for 9 years up to 2004 – achieved precious little. The advent of the
new government in 2004 did not make a difference and, in fact, later it
enhanced threats to the Lake. It should now be realised that soon the water
body as we know it may cease to exist. It
cannot be business as usual any more. The need of the hour is to arrange to
have people’s pressure exerted on the government for effective action for
conservation of the water body. http://bagchiblog.blogspot.com
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