Mayem lake's glory choked by mining silt - ToI

Mayem lake's glory choked by mining silt Rajendra P Kerkar, TNN | Apr 10, 2013, 04.11 AM IST KERI: Mayem lake, nestled amidst hillocks, was once a prominent tourist destination. But, the onset of mining activities on a large scale has resulted in threatening the ecology and environment of the water body. Negligence by the government too has accounted for the existence of the lake now being threatened. Located two km away from Bicholim town, the Mayem lake, a decade ago, was a well-known tourist spot that attracted a huge crowd of local, Indian and foreign tourists. But, the mining activities initiated on a large scale in Mayem have restrained the tourist inflow in the area. Many a times, mining transportation has raised hurdles on the main road for tourist buses and vehicles. Mayem lake is an artificially-created water body that catered to the irrigation needs of Mayem farmers. Kamlakant Tari of Mayem recalls, "Agriculture was the main occupation of our village. As the soil was fertile and irrigation water was available from Mayem lake and other water bodies, farmers were cultivating a variety of paddy species such as khochri, damgo, belo, asago. But, today, agriculture and horticulture is on the decline." Since the pre-Portuguese period, Mayem lake was a main source of irrigation water. The hardworking village community, through collective efforts, have excavated the lake mainly to get water for agriculture and horticulture fields and every year the community was involved in desilting and maintenance of the lake. Establishment of a shrine in the honour of the guardian spirit of the lake locally known 'Taleshwar', helped the community to protect the sagacity of the lake. Since 1965, large amount of monies have been expended to develop the tourism aspect of the lake. But the operation of mining leases within a kilometre's radius has accounted in declining the water level in the lake. Mining silt has been accumulating in the lake from the mining dumps that have been kept unprotected and unstablized. G N Naik of the Goa University has conducted a study of impact of mining on environment in Goa (1994). This study has found that retaining walls constructed around the dumps are ineffective in holding fine silt-sized materials, and the erosion and transportation of materials from the dumps to the lake basin cannot be ruled out especially during monsoon. Due to the steep slopes of dumps and unconsolidated nature of their constituents, dump materials get washed down the slope either filling up the low-lying agricultural land or it gets deposited in the water basin causing siltation and transforming it into uncultivable land. Veena Vishwas Chodankar, sarpanch of Mayem-Vainguinim panchayat, says, "The panchayat has already sent the proposal four months ago to revive the tourism plan in the area. This lake is helping locals to earn their livelihood through hotels and restaurants and other business activities. If proper infrastructure and necessary facilities are provided and tourists are encouraged to visit the lake, it will help our villagers." Recently, tourism minister Dilip Parulekar visited the Mayem lake. He said, "The tourism department will take necessary steps at the earliest to boost the tourism potential of the lake. Necessary funds will be allocated to undertake repairing and maintenance. We have already planned to revive the tourism project in Mayem." Mayem MLA Anant Shet said, "Our government is sincere in implementing various steps to protect the natural beauty and ecology of the Mayem lake. I am sure tourism will flourish once again in the area." Today, the lake is used for boat-rides by tourists. The lake also attracts a diversity of avi-fauna. Various species of kingfishers, herons, egrets, cormorants are attracted to the lake area. Narayan Parodkar of Keri-Sattari, who has an interest in ornithology, said, "Once the lake was known for rich diversity of birds. It was a favourable natural habitat for birds. But, uncontrolled mining activities have disturbed the ecology and environment of the lake which has caused disturbances to the habitat of the birds." Amrut Singh, wildlifer from Bicholim, says, "This lake was known for its richness of having local varieties of fish. Villagers relished on these fish, but, today, accumulation of mining silt and pollutants has threatened the fish diversity of the area." http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Mayem-lakes-glory-choked-by-mining-silt/articleshow/19468820.cms