Karkala; Oct 25: The Anekere, the historical, ancient and one of the landmarks of the region has started losing its real originality. Such a vast lake, with an area covering 24 acres according to government record, has now shrunk to 14 acres.Anekere is divided to form Sigadikere and road passes between the lake.
Some of the unscrupulous people have illegally encroached and major portion of the lake converted into agricultural field. A Basadi was built in between the lake by a kind called Pandya,the sixth and it is being generally called Kerebasadi.According to the history, during the regime of Bairavarasa,the elephants used to play in the lake and hence the name Anekere.
The main source of water for the local people is Anekere and Sigadikere.As the lake does not dry up even during extreme summer, the wells in the area also have water in them. In spite of having abundant water, the pathetic and filthy drainage system made the well water dirty and created artificial scarcity of water. The many types of birds and flowers can be found here along with red lotus.
Due to dangerous weeds spread over the lake, growth of the red lotus has been severely hit. Though many parties came and cleared the weed since 1990, they keep growing and rising.
Kantavara Beedu’s K.B.Jinnaraj, an advocate and leader of Karnataka unification committee had written to then British government that it is against the teaching of Jainism to catch fish in the lake and accordingly fishing in the lake was banned by the British government on religious ground. The ban is still in force and fishing is not being taking place and who are violating the ban will be arrested by the police and then released after warning.
The road which passes through the side of the lake is likely to be made two ways. The people are insisting for the construction of seating arrangements, when the wall is built in order to enhance the beauty of the lake besides being useful for citizens.
The maintenance of the park should be done by social organizations and people. Weeds should be completely removed and release of drainage water to the lake should be stopped.
There was a proposal long ago to build the bus stand by filling the portion of the lake. But due to fierce protest by the citizens of the town, including Shivarama Karanth against building bus stand in the lake, as it would have an adverse impact on the environment, the lake remained intact.
According to Rehmat, president of Karkala municipal council, Anekere is being neglected by the irrigation department.As Anekere is in the heart of the city, negligence is a flaw in the beauty of the town. Therefore government should provide special grant for the renovation and maintenance of the lake, she said.
