Death of a Lake

If still more evidence was required, here it is. A large lake, that till two years ago brimmed with water, has also dried up completely in Dhauj, just 3km from the Sirohi and Khori Jamalpur mines, ramming home yet again the correlation between mining in the Aravalis and the drought in the area. The evidence is there for anyone who cares to see. It’s there at the Dhauj Jheel, Badkhal Lake, Surajkund, Damdama Lake and scores of smaller water bodies in the region. But the Haryana government, which could actually roll back the water crisis, is looking the other way. Far from preventing mining in these ravaged mines, even after the expiry of a seven-year lease, it is set to set to extend mining there by two years. That is, unless the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which is scheduled to take up the issue on Wednesday, rejects the state government and the miner lobby’s argument that construction material is getting scarce in Delhi and steps up to save the Aravalis.It had been reported how virtually all big projects in the Capital were sourcing their materials from Rajasthan and were tied into long-term contracts, which would not make an impact on prices. The high court would, in any case, be aware that the Supreme Court passed a status-quo order on February 13, which means the current situation, including expiry of lease on the these two mines, can’t be changed until the apex court has taken a view on the larger issue of the ecological devastation of this entire region. On paper, they are breeding fish here Faridabad: Dhauj Jheel, a large lake just 3km from Sirohi and Khori Jamalpur mines in Faridabad, has for the first time in its 70-year history gone completely dry with ugly cracks on its bed telling an eloquent story of water famine, claim locals. Satellite imagery, included in the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee, shows that only last May the lake was full. Locals say the lake dried up in three months. Interestingly, the lake belongs to the Haryana fisheries department which has leased it out for fishing. But what’s really being ‘‘fished’’ out of here is sand — truckloads of it — that has damaged the waterretention capacity of the soil. All that remains of the lake that once spread over 100 acres is a tiny, dirty puddle on one side with truck marks all around. As per the records of the fisheries department, the dry bed has been leased out to a private agency for pisciculture. P V Singh director (fisheries) says: ‘‘There are prospects of good rains so there’s fish culture happening there.’’ On being told that there is no water and sand was being scooped out of the lake bed, he replied: ‘‘If there is no water then that is not my lookout, mining department will need to check that.’’ Mining officials claimed it was a ‘‘local problem’’ but promised to get it checked provided ‘‘it is not reported”. Irrigation department officials said that the dam was constructed to prevent the huge run off rainwater from flooding the agriculture fields and villages in low-lying areas and also to ensure a year-long supply of water and groundwater recharge. The water markings on the dam are an indication of how much water the reservoir once held. The unorganised mining has left small patches of exposed groundwater in some places (the water level is at 17 feet) — yet another means of ground water depletion in an area where countless tubewells have gone dry since 2002 when mining commenced. Locals have turned incidental profiteers with some charging trucks at the rate of Rs 100 per trip to let them pass through land they own. Locals and district administration officials said there were signs of alarming depletion of the water level over 7-8 years. A Central Ground Water Board report submitted to the Supreme Court in 2004 said: ‘‘... the drainage pattern of the area has been modified due to haphazard mining and dumping of waste material which has bearing on natural path of ground water flow in the area.’’ The effect on drainage pattern was mentioned in a Supreme Court order of 2006 too while delivering the judgement on a case filed by M C Mehta. A forest department official explained: ‘‘Since rainwater is the only source for such lakes in the entire Aravali region, till the time the rainwater catchment area remained intact, run off rainwater from 10 km around the dam filled Dhauj. The height of Dhauj Lake is more than the mining areas of Khori and Sirohi so depletion of groundwater from the mining pits affected the recharge rate here. Rainwater hardly reaches the lake now as because of man-made changes in the rock around, either the courses have altered or the water ends up filling only the mining pits.’’ Locals say there have been attempts to ‘‘mine’’ the rockclimbing site of Dhauj too but some local land-owners have resisted that. The situation, the official added is now so bad that even if all the natural rainwater courses are clear, it will take decades to fill the lake because of the havoc wreaked by mining and the altered soil character. In this situation, can mining for another two years be allowed here?