Villagers revive historic lake in Koppal

Koppal: The lotus flowers that bloomed on the surface of the lake in Tavaragera in Koppal district adorned the walls of the palaces in Hampi during the reign of the kings of the Vijayanagara Empire. Nidaseshi Lake, spread across 32 acres, however, lost its water, and subsequently its sheen. Parched for the past few decades, a group of citizens, inspired by the work of the Gavisiddeshwar Swami of the Gavisiddeshwar Sansthan Math in Koppal, started work on the reviving the lake three years ago, owing to which it has now regained its lost grandeur.
Farmers procured soil to transform the landscape around the lake around the same time when work was under way to remove the silt from the lakebed.The citizens decided to raise the money for the project through crowdsourcing, and collected Rs 40 lakh. There is now water to a depth of 25ft, while the surrounding landscape is covered in a blanket of green.
President of Rayana Kere Abhivruddhi Samiti, Tavaragera, Chandrashekhar Nalatwad told TOI, “On Republic Day in 2018, we mooted the idea to the youngsters, citizens, elected representatives and officials. Owing to successive droughts, the village was grappling with a crisis. In order to pre-empt a similar crisis in a village with a population of 25,000, youngsters from Tavaragera decided to revive the lake. The members of the town panchayat expressed interest in the revival of Nidaseshi Lake. It took us a year to finalise the plan. We met the seer of Gavisiddeshwar Math, who visited the town, and flagged off work on the revival of the lake in February 2019.”
Narayanagouda Medikeri and Sagar Beri, fellow members of the committee, said that, like-minded citizens and elected representatives contributed up to Rs 21 lakh, while the rest was raised through donations from people. The duo said that silt from the lake had been removed only 25 years ago, owing to which the water never penetrated below a depth of eight feet. “The lakebed was littered with gravel, and silt had accumulated in large quantities over the years. The silt removed from the lakebed filled 300 tractors. Once the silt was removed, we received Rs 10 lakh under the Kere Sanjeevini Scheme from the minor irrigation department. Nearly 200 people worked continuously for 30 days, while more than 5,000 people supported our endeavour in various ways,” the duo said.
Nalatwad said that the kings of the Vijayanaga Empire had constructed canals to feed the lake around four or five centuries ago. “There are references to lotus flower plucked from the lake being sent to the court of Krishnadeva Raya. The lake is also called Rayanakere for that reason, and the lotus flowers that dotted the surface lent the town its name: Tavaragera,” he said.
Water in the lake reaches to a depth of 25ft across 22 acres. While the lake was being revived, encroachment was cleared across two acres, to ease flow of water into the body of water. The lake, Nalatwad said, had not gone dry even during the previous summers, and the local groundwater table had risen as a result.
Shivanand Kalave, an expert in hydrology, said that, not only had the lake been given a fresh lease of life, but so had the villages surrounding it, with the water table rising in the area across a five-kilometre radius. “With water available in plenty, vegetation is growing in the region,” he said.
Tavaragera residents are now appealing to the government to introduce boating at the lake, which they said, would help turn it into a tourist destination and help boost the local economy.