Bhopal Notes :: 76 :: High rises where Upper Lake once was?

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The other day I came across a video clip in whatsapp containing something very alarming. If it is all true, it should set alarm bells ringing all over Bhopal.

Two days ago there was a small news item in a vernacular newspaper that the water in the Upper Lake of Bhopal, considered the lifeline of the town, is leaking into the Lower Lake through some duct created naturally or artificially.  While the water of the Lower Lake is not lifted for distribution in the town for drinking purposes, the waters of the Upper Lake is used for this purpose. And it is the level of the Upper Lake, which is already precarious and is shrinking. The Lake was reported to have waters for supply for the next three weeks after which, if the rains still elude Bhopal, one does not know what would happen. Perhaps, there will be just no water available and people may have to get away elsewhere as they have done in Panna district deserting some villages. Allowing the leak into the Lower Lake is nothing short of a criminal act.

What was alarming about the video was the statement of a spokesperson of a voluntary organization which said that all this was being done deliberately by some politicians of both Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janta Party in active collaboration of the officials concerned of the Municipal Corporation. The idea is to arrange a set-up in which the Upper Lake loses all its waters and then the land mafias, with the help of “raj-netas”, use the exposed lake bed for real estate purposes. The intention seems to be to get rid of the water body and use the prime land in the heart of the town to mint money. It is not beyond politicians to think of such a scenario as they think big and think of making not one or two crores but multi crores regardless of the consequences of their actions on the hapless common men.

Already there are reports of encroachments inside the Lake in Khanugaon area. A wall that was raised much inside the FTL line is yet to be demolished despite the orders of former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan. But it seems, the CM was not averse to the encroachment as he never reportedly issued written orders. The wall therefore stands violating wetland norms and, looks like, the encroachers are biding their time and living for another convenient day when they could strike again.

In fact the government of Shivraj Singh Chauhan too was eying the catchment of the Upper Lake with saliva dripping from its mouth. So much of land lying unused; putting them to use would unlock crores for the party and for politicians themselves. Yet they were not able to do that. The CEPT report too suggested ‘hands off the catchments’. The government did the next best thing; it sat on the report of the CEPT and refused to make it public. It remains to be seen whether the Congress government will release it. A report had said that it would be made public soon but weeks have gone by and nothing has happened.

Unscrupulous municipal officials and politicians cannot be trusted with the wellbeing of the general public. Their own wellbeing takes precedence over those of others. Hence a strong civil society action needs to be organized like the one that forced the Shivraj Singh government to move the site of smart city from green and verdant Shivaji Nagar to elsewhere. If people of Bhopal allow the Upper Lake to be dried up by the machinations of unscrupulous officials and politicians they would do so at their own peril.

 The need of the hour is for all civil society organizations to come together to thwart the evil designs and schemes of crooked officials and politicians.

Bhopal Notes :: 52 :: Bhopal's pride is grave yard for fish

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Upper Lake, Bhopal

What has now been reported had to happen sooner or later. It has, in fact, happened sooner than later. The local daily reported yesterday that dead fish were found floating near the Boat Club on the Upper Lake. Obviously the pollution of the lake waters has attained such levels that its oxygen content has ebbed like, perhaps, never before killing off the marine mammals. With rains still far off and the lake losing its waters due to usual offtake for supplies and rising rate of evaporation in the sustained heat of 42+ degrees Centigrade the pollution level of the waters has gone up with sewage and other drains flowing into it with their normal intensity. No wonder the fish have become a casualty. None, however, knows which other mammals or organisms of the bio-diverse lake have packed off.

Those who are caretakers of this millennium old largest man-made lake in the country are more concerned about the visitors to the lake-front. They are, therefore, busy in providing greater attractions as also amenities for them. Undertaking construction, they are building view points for people to come and admire the immense natural beauty of the Lake further beautified by large unmatched jets. Only if they had a similar concern for the quality of its waters which are used for drinking purposes by a substantial numbers of citizens and others like us would have had no reason to complain.

They, unfortunately, showed no such concern. It has been more than 12 years since the Bhoj Wetland Project financed by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency ran its extended course of ten years and was terminated. The unspent money of the project was used in constructing physical assets like an auditorium, an Interpretation Centre etc. but no money was spent on blocking the sewers and sundry drains that bring sullage and sewage to the Lake. In the intervening 12 years they could not check these pernicious flows and install the required number of sewage treatment plants and run them efficiently. Eight to nine of such drains continue to dump millions of litres of sewage into the Lake. No wonder, the fish are dying – perhaps other organisms too are dying. Not many can survive consuming plain and raw sewage. One does not know what the condition of the birds is, the ones that roost nearabout the Lake. Most, for the presence of whom in large numbers the Wetland was designated a Ramsar Site, had deserted the Upper Lake long ago, anyway; they find neighbouring water bodies far more congenial and hospitable than this one which once used to be their haunt for years, maybe decades and centuries.

Three researchers of universities located in the state had prognosticated that the lake would not remain useful in another eighty years if its maintenance continues in the manner it is being carried out currently. The Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT), Ahmedabad, which the government of Madhya Pradesh had engaged for suggesting measures for conservation of the Upper Lake, had recently stated that the Lake would not remain useful in twenty years’ time unless measures to protect and conserve it were commenced right away. The report of the CEPT has been gathering dust for around four years now for reasons known to the government. The government has neither released it for public information nor has it taken action on its recommendations. Perhaps its recommendations to stop constructions on the banks of the Lake and its catchments did not appeal to the political masters and the construction lobby. There seems to be a stalemate as even the National Green Tribunal could only have a look at the CEPT report but could not have it released for public comments. It is a strange irony that public has been denied access to a report that was prepared after extensive studies by an expert body at public expense.

I distinctly recall a meeting a few years ago with this very chief minister with members Bhopal Citizens’ Forum. Even then, as today, conservation of the Upper Lake was a big issue. During the course of the conversation he had categorically said that as long as he was there (at the helm) he would not allow the lake to be harmed. It is the same chief minister who has been (fraudulently) promoting conservation of River Narmada even as illegal sand mining continues on it but has allowed the reputed lifeline of the people of Bhopal to come to the brink of its demise. If anybody or any organization is responsible for the current deplorable condition of the Lake which is peddled for tourism in Bhopal, it is none other than the Madhya Pradesh government along with the Bhopal Municipal Corporation which would be culpable and need to be indicted. It is these that are trying to kill this very vital asset of the people of Bhopal