The little facelift of Naik Talao has now turned public attention towards the neglected and shrinking Lendi Talao, once a sprawling 28-acre water body that has reportedly been reduced to barely 1.5 acres due to massive encroachment. Citizens are questioning when the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) will finally act to restore the historic lake and remove more than 120 alleged encroachments choking its existence. What has now remained is a part of Lendi Talao that too is fighting for survival as authorities in Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) are yet to find right time to start the rejuvenation process.

 

Thankfully, the adjoining Naik Talao was given a facelift, though rejuvenation is still long away. But, NMC has however failed to take any concrete steps in case of Lendi Talao, located in Tandapeth area, a locality dominated by low-income group who hardly care whether the lake survives or vanishes. For NMC too, though the rejuvenation project was sanctioned in year 2022, till date nothing has moved forward. The lake bed is covered with water hyacinth and uncontrolled growth of shrubs that is choking the supply of oxygen. The lake is surrounded by over hundred hutments, and NMC needs to draft a plan to resettle the encroachers if it is serious about restoration of pristine beauty of Lendi Talao.

 

 

Lendi Talao was once part of troika of lakes in the Central Nagpur and now only Naik Talao has got some semblance of identity while Dobi Talao has vanished into thin air, and if there is more delay in launching rejuvenation, then next in line is Lendi Talao. Negligence of authorities, carelessness of the local population and continuous encroachment happening in the area of the lake for many years has put the square future at stake. A saddest part of Lendi Talao is that it does not have a protective wall, so the encroachers continues to move into the lake bed. The water in the lake has nearly dried up; instead, tall grass has grown in the lake bed and multiple shelters of tin have been erected right in the lake bed itself. 

 

 

The State Government had given in-principle approval of the rejuvenation of nearly 7 acres of the lake back in 2022 under the AMRUT 2.0 scheme, but nothing has moved since then. With no plan presented by NMC as to relocation of encroachers, the rejuvenation is localised to just 7 acres of area. But till date, the project never went ahead leaving space for encroachers to continue with their uhindered exercise of gobbling up the lake. Once upon a time, the lake water served the nearby localities but once water pipeline reached the houses, people forgot all about lake. People are simply using the lake for as open dump, and unchecked activity has reduced it to an area full of filth and garbage. So the lake bed is fully with silt that has worsened its condition. The lake was once a key recharge point for the area’s groundwater, is now struggling to fulfil its ecological role. Despite repeated appeals from residents, the NMC has failed to take concrete steps to restore Lendi Talao. If there is any longer delay, people say, the lake is going to disappear before our eyes. The water body is now a breeding ground for mosquitoes and a health hazard. The neglect of Lendi Talao is a glaring example of how urban development often comes at the expense of natural resources.