Nagpur: Sakkardara lake is shrinking but people continue to dump waste into it. When one visits this waterbody one would find a lot of waste, idols at its bank lying since long as it is. Civic authorities along with the public representatives of this area should be held responsible for the condition of this historic lake. South Nagpur MLA Sudhakar Kohle, Leader of Opposition in Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) Tanaji Wanve, Chairperson of Nehru Nagar Zone Rita Mule, Deepraj Nilawar from Clean Foundation, Ishwar Dhurde from Sakkardara Beautification Committee with much hype did open the cleaning work. But it did not last long. Sakkardara Lake is located in the Sakkardara precinct of Nagpur covering an area of about 4 hectares. Direct access to the lake is only from its Western edge by a road running parallel to Laxminarayan Temple, an important heritage structure.
Almost all of the area around the lake is demarcated as a residential zone in the Development Plan of Nagpur with the only exception being the Southern edge which has been reserved as a green area. This green area is presently divided into two parts with the Bhosle Sakkardara garden forming the immediate Southern edge of the lake through which the lake can be reached. The presence of an informal settlement along the eastern edge of the lake is responsible for lake contamination. Most of their garbage is directly dumped into the lake. Apart from that everybody passing through the lake keeps dumping the waste material into this already shrinking lake.
NMC had also started cleaning work in association with Clean Foundation, Patanjali Yog Samiti, and Sonzari Mitra Mandal to mark Atal Sewa Saptah but that also remained as an activity of showing off. Civic authorities have made injustice and mockery of this lake. It started projects of cleaning on it but without seriousness.
The lackadaisical attitude by Nagpur Improvement Trust (NIT) that once had outsourced the cleaning work without yielding any result. The agency got its payment and then fled. Recently, Bollywood Centre Point that functioning on the bank of Sakkardara lake has downed its shutters citing the reason for lack of patronage by Nagpurians. Now the walls of Bollywood Centre Point are being demolished and the debris is getting gathered in the lake causing damage to aqua life. Now, NMC has planned the cleaning of Futala and Naik Talao which it has not started yet. What would happen to Sakkardara lake by the time civic authority would take its cleaning work is a million dollar question being asked by the people. It is already dying slowly by gradual shrinking, it remains to be seen whether people and civic authority would be able to save it.
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