Lockdown delays desilting of historic lake in Mangaluru

Deepthi Sanjiv | Apr 14, 2020, 05:00 IST

Mangaluru: The lockdown is bound to delay completion of civic projects. In Mangaluru, one of the projects that the lockdown has deferred, very likely for a year, is the desilting of the historic Gujjarakere.
In 2019, the localities surrounding Gujjarakere reported a worrying spike in the number of dengue cases, which the residents attributed to stagnation of water in the lake, and asked the authorities to desilt the waterbody, and rid it of weeds.
Mangaluru Smart City Ltd (MSCL), which initiated a project to revive the 1,800-year-old lake, is currently waiting for approval from the Dakshina Kannada district administration to go ahead with the desilting operation. If the desilting of the lake is deferred now, MSCL will have to wait for another year to carry out the exercise, which is likely to upset Mangaluru residents.
MSCL had chalked out a plan for the rejuvenation of Kavoorkere and Gujjarkere, primarily with the aim of improving the quality of water in the two lakes, in addition to increasing their retention capacity. MSCL had earmarked a sum of Rs 12 crore for the revival of the two waterbodies.
MSCL managing director Mohammed Nazeer said that the weeds were being cleared manually from the lakebed. "We are also putting in place a system to prevent the flow of sewage from the underground drain network into Gujjarakere. The lake has an outlet, which will prevent water from stagnating. Work also needs to be initiated on landscaping and cleaning the premises of the lake so it can be turned into a recreational space. We have approached the district administration seeking approval to go ahead with these plans. Desilting has to be completed before the onset of the monsoon, failing which we will have to undertake the exercise next year," Nazeer told TOI.
Samples of water taken from Gujjarakere that were tested in a laboratory following the rise in dengue cases last July found that it was unfit for drinking, in addition to confirming an abnormal level of faecal coliform count.
Secretary of the Gujjarakere Samrakshana Vedike P Nemu Kottari said that desilting and revival of the lake was vital to ensuring the preserving the balance of the local ecology.