People's initiative to save a lake

People's initiative to save a lake

The Hindu

BANGALORE, DEC. 18. Considering the sheer size of the 1,600-hectare historic Hesaraghatta Lake, four bulldozers of the Madras Engineering Group (MEG) desilting it may seem a small effort.

But a beginning has been made, thanks to the initiative of the people of Hesaraghatta led by S.T. Basavaraju. In the next three years, they hope to desilt about 40 hectares of the lake — a mere 2.5 per cent of the lakebed.

What moved Mr. Basavaraju was the way the lake, which attracted hundreds of rare species of birds every year and thousands of people on weekends, dried up fully in the nineties.

"I used to swim in the lake and play on its embankment. Watching the birds was a treat. So I decided to do something about it," he says.

The groundwater table has plunged to 210 metres from 30 metres.

The lake is the lifeline of Hesaraghatta farmers, 90 per cent of whom grow arecanut, banana and betel leaves.

No response

His letters to the Chief Secretary and others in power yielded no response. It was like-minded people such as Mahesh Bhat, a wildlife photographer, and Devaraj, a chartered accountant, who stood by him. Together, they motivated the people of the village for shramdaan (voluntary labour).

Nearly a 1,000 people from the village of 3,000 families cleared a three-km inlet channel at the Dasenahalli Khane side four months ago.

The result is there to see as the rain has brought in some water to the lake. Mr. Basavaraju tried in vain to seek the help of the State and Union government establishments located around the lake.

Even the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board, which once "earned huge revenue from the lake," only showed the generosity of "permitting" the shramdaan. (When full, one-inch layer of the water from the lake can earn a revenue of Rs. 8 lakhs for the BWSSB, Mr. Basavaraju says).

Luckily, the MEG volunteered to help and four bulldozers are engaged in the desilting work. Mr. Basavaraju hopes to see the lake full again in his lifetime.

History of the water body

In 1894, when Bangalore's population was 1,80,000, the then Dewan of the princely State of Mysore, K. Seshadri Iyer, got the Hesaraghatta Lake constructed to supply drinking water to the city.

It was designed to supply water to a population of 2.5 lakhs. Water was pumped to the Combined Jewel Filters in Malleswaram, where it was treated and supplied to the people.

In 1926, when the city's population crossed 2.5 lakhs, a committee led by Sir M. Visvesvaraya suggested certain modifications to augment its capacity. He recommended the construction of a reservoir at Tippagondanahalli, which was carried out.

When the lake dried up, about 30 borewells were sunk in the lakebed to augment the drinking water supply to the Air Force Station at Jalahalli, for which it was the source of water supply for many years. All the borewells have dried up now.

Europeans, according to Hesaraghatta villagers, even started a rowing club and hosted national-level competitions in swimming, paddling, rowing and boating in the lake.