Miles to go before Kolleru lake is saved

V R C Phaniharan / TNN / Nov 28, 2005, 03:12 IST

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Unless polluting fish tanks are removed from all levels of the lake, there is no hope of saving it.

Miles to go before Kolleru lake is saved

HYDERABAD: The government has heaved a big sigh of relief after clearing the Kolleru lake of encroachments from the fifth contour of the water body. But forest officials say this is a sigh too soon.
Unless polluting fish tanks are removed from all levels of the lake, there is no hope of saving it. The fresh water lake has for decades been encroached��mainly by local bigwigs and fish and aqua farmers��from all sides, leading to its drastic shrinkage.
The lake as seen now is a fraction of its original expanse. After weighing the political consequences, the state government finally embarked on 'Operation Kolleru' to break the banks of the encroaching fish tanks and opening up inlets into lake.
But experts and forest department officials say cosmetic efforts are not going to retrieve the lake unless fish farms occupying the lower contours are cleared.

While encroachments up to the fifth contour (boundary) have been cleared by the government as per GO 120, forest officials say pollution from fish ponds in the upper and lower contours continues.
One district forest officer said thousands of fish tanks set up by big-time farmers remain to be cleared in these parts of the lake.
Some of the farmers even procured pattas (titles) for the land and conduct commercial aquaculture on it, involving the use of polluting chemicals.

For instance, the prawn farms in contour seven use chemical-laced aquafeed for sustaining the fingerlings. The toxic residue from this seeps into the other contours, officials said.
If the government really wants a permanent solution to the problem, all fish tanks should be cleared, officials said. Officials also suspect that the government's real intentions do not run deep enough to really matter.
In the phase one of Operation Kolleru, the authorities only breached tanks in the fifth contour but did not demolish the fish tanks completely.
There are reports that fish farmers went back to their illegal farms after the demolition crews left.

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