Sept. 7: The revenue and local panchayat administrations, which are supposed to protect the lake embankments and water bodies built and protected by their ancestors, are shirking their responsibility. Mohan of Hakke village, the convener of the Lake Embankment Protection Committee, has urged the district administration to take responsibility for protecting the lake embankments by taking care not to destroy them.
Although requests have been made to the relevant local bodies for the protection of lake embankments and water bodies for the past dozen years, the court was knocked on the door when the local bodies turned a deaf ear to the lakes.
As a result of the continuous struggle, the State High Court had directed the Taluk Tahsildar to list the encroached lakes, clear them from the encroachers and hand them over to the Gram Panchayats for their development, said Mohan.
There are as many as 139 lakes in Kushalnagar Taluk alone, of which 68 are encroached.
61 lakes are out of the clutches of the encroachers. Despite the State High Court's clear directive to clear the encroachments of the 68 already encroached lakes and hand them over to the respective local Gram Panchayat administration for development, the Gram Panchayats of the taluk have adopted a stepmotherly attitude towards the development of the lakes.
Regarding this issue, the Kushalnagar Revenue Department has gradually cleared 68 encroached lakes from the encroachers and handed them over to the local Gram Panchayats, but even after years, some Gram Panchayat administrations have not formulated any plans for the development of a single lake. Finally, many Panchayat presidents or PDOs have not even looked at such lakes. Despite the neglect of the Panchayat administration, the revenue officials have not questioned the Panchayat administration in this regard.
Mohan expressed his dissatisfaction that even though the Gram Panchayat administrations have also complained in writing to the Kodagu Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer about the lakes handed over by the Revenue Department and not taking any steps for development, no action has been taken.
Taking the encroachment and degradation of lakes seriously, the State High Court issued an order in this regard to the Taluk Tahsildar in 2023 and directed him to immediately formulate plans for groundwater development by protecting the encroached lake banks and water bodies and to take strict measures to prevent the lakes from being encroached again.
Therefore, Kushalnagar Taluk Tahsildar Kiran Gouraiah has cleared 68 lakes out of the 139 lakes in the taluk from encroachers and handed them over to the local Gram Panchayats, and the Panchayats have to take action for their development.
Meanwhile, the Gram Panchayat administration, which is not committed to the development of the lakes, has again approached the State High Court regarding the gross negligence of the Gram Panchayat. Mohan has warned that he will file a complaint against the administration and officials.
The total land of the encroached lakes is around 258 acres and needs to be cleared immediately. There are also more than 690 small water bodies including cultivation lakes, holding lakes, Bhogani lakes, backyard lakes, and lakes belonging to the Public Works Department. All of them should be cleared from encroachment and protected. It has been requested to file a written complaint with the Chief Executive Officer of the Kodagu Zilla Panchayat and the District Collector and formulate a plan for the protection of the lake banks and water bodies.
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