If saving trees and greenery is one of Nagpur’s concerns, another far more serious concern is about the survival of its lakes from the evil hands of ... ! There is reason enough to stress that the city of Nagpur -- its people, its leaders, its civic administrators -- needs to be booked for serial killings of lakes. And the modus operandi is very smart, and of course very diabolical: First, allow people to encroach upon the catchment areas of lakes -- on the sly for several years; then allow the people to start constructing houses or huts or any other structures that could impede the flow of water into the central body of the lake; then start giving official recognition to those (actually) illegal constructions with administrative support such as land rights, electricity connections, water connections ... ... thus is created a massive fait accompli !

 

Then the city’s leaders and their electors (that is people) and the administrators start saying (not at all sheepishly) that now that hundreds of structures are housing thousands of people, nothing can be done to revive the lake. This is the way by which several of the city’s lakes travelled to their doom. Can we erase this reality ? -- is the question. But then, can we also accept the absolutely illegal and immoral fait accompli that allows the city’s lakes to get killed in a serial manner ? This is the question the city must ask itself. This is, however, not an attempt to pin the blame on any specific person or persons; this is a statement of reality that has been tormenting the city’s environs for decades on end. For, can we ever forget the killing of the Lendi Talao, the Dobi Talao, the Pandhrabodi Talao, Sanjay Gandhi Nagar Talao, the Naik Talao, the Mangalwari Talao over the past few decades ?

 

Some of these lakes stand totally dried out, while others are on the way to their sure death. Can we ever forget that the authorities have allowed encroachment of the catchment area of the Sonegaon Talao? This beautiful lake still exists, but its catchment area has been occupied by massive cement jungle that can never be torn down in order to save the lake ... ... so the lake is surviving in a truncated form, thanks mainly to rainwater and very inconsequential streams that might be bringing some water from the unoccupied spaces in the catchment area. The Futala Talao (Telangkhedi lake) is also travelling a similar journey to its doom, environmentalists claim and grieve that nothing is being done to avoid the impending disaster of doom. ... ... and we all decide to look the other way. Why are not the right people waking up and intervene ?