A classic tale of collaborative incompetence of various official agencies and the public has been unfolding around the Sonegaon Lake for years. Here, the question is: Who is not guilty? And the answer is: Everybody is guilty. The issue here is of hundreds of constructions in the catchment area of the beautiful Sonegaon Lake. On some bad morning, somebody thought of carving out space for housing in the open land to the West of the Sonegaon Lake. That was years ago -- may be 20-25 years ago -- when the dirty decision was taken. Then the person/s wanting to implement the idea must have looked for patronage in politics and administration -- to get appropriate clearances. Obviously, that person was of some consequence. For, he/she appears to have acquired all the required clearances -- genuine or otherwise -- from competent authorities. Thus began the systematic plunder -- of a lake’s catchment area (and thereby the lake’s larger ecosystem). What was being demolished was also the core trust that the Administration must build for its resolute honesty and transparency that it would not allow any destruction of or damage to entities of public interest. In a short while, many more construction projects and housing colonies came up in that land which was the hydrological catchment area of the beautiful Sonegaon Lake -- which started almost fully drying up in summers (which did not happen in the past). All these colonies have administrative sanction.

 

The people in this area pay all local taxes etc. Thus, everything is LEGAL. Of course, a programme has been undertaken for the beautification of Sonegaon Lake. In some more time, the lake area would look spic and span, and would start attracting people to its glitter and glamour. In other words, the actual issue of the massive construction in the catchment area would be put behind by the entire society. Everybody is happy -- the house-holders, the administration ... and whosoever ! No complaints. No need to crib. Everybody has got ‘something’. Let’s all be happy. (So what if a lake’s ecosystem is destroyed ? So what ??? !!!) Time it is to move to another area -- for another tale which far outshames the Sonegaon Lake story. This is the tale of the infamous Lendi Talao. The entire lake-bed stands encroached upon. Countless dozens of houses -- in a near-slum fashion -- have come up on the lake-bed. There is a terribly narrow, slit-like lane-space between two houses leading to the backyard that is covered with high bush and grass. This area is supposed to be one part of the lake-bed. So thick is this dirty green growth that a pig will just disappear into the thicket and remain untraceable for days.

 

This DEVELOPMENT has not come up in a day or two or three. It has taken years -- nay, decades -- to come up. And there is not one single political leader worth the salt to stand up and ask for the removal of this monstrous outgrowth of deliberate and malevolent human habitation. Very easily, these houses can be torn down and the people shifted to an alternative place. But the political and administrative leadership is not at all willing to undertake such a politically disastrous endeavour. When ‘The Hitavada’ raised this point with a senior political leader occupying a high position, the leader said, in effect, that once some construction was done, then it was not possible to tear it down. The same rules appears to be applicable to other places where undesirable construction has taken place. So, Lendi Talao stands fully destroyed. And nobody in politics and administration has any moral or mental qualms. What a classic tale of malevolent collaboration of different agencies and interests ... ... (So what if a lake’s ecosystem is destroyed ? So what ??? !!!) n