Encroachment Threat to Tripura’s Wetlands

Agartala, Feb 18 : At a time when revenue from tourism is showing signs of growth in the state, the sprawling Rudrasagar lake that houses the Northeast’s only water palace, Neer Mahal, is drying up fast because of encroachment by residents for paddy cultivation.

“Originally, the lake had a water area of 2,000 hectares. But this has been reduced to 1,400 acres because of continued siltation and forced outflow of water. The lake’s water-covered area is only 242 acres now. (Originally the entire lake was water covered). There has been large-scale encroachment and paddy is being cultivated in large tracts of land which once formed part of the lake’s water area,” an official of the tourism department said.

Release of water by opening sluice gates at night has nearly dried up the lake and consequently tourists cannot visit Neer Mahal smoothly.

The drying up of the lake has also adversely affected tourist flow to Sagar Mahal, the tourism department lodge.

The official said migratory birds have also stopped coming to the lake for the past five years.

He blamed politics of vote bank for the plight of the lake.

“The lake is taken care of by the Rudrasagar fishermen’s co-operative whose members believe that they will be able to earn much more by cultivating paddy than by fishing or boating,” he said.

The co-operative and the Melaghar Assembly constituency, under which the lake falls, are strong electoral bases of the CPM. As a result, neither the administration nor the ruling party take any interest in reviving the lake.

He said the chief minister had held several meetings for restoration of the lake but nothing came out of it.

Expressing concern over the prospect of tourism because of drying up of the lake, an official of the Tripura Tourism Development Corporation said revenue from tourism has been growing over the past few years. “In 2007-2008, we earned a revenue of Rs 57.8 lakh from tourism. In the next fiscal, we earned 64.66 lakh. Upto September 30 of the fiscal, we had earned Rs 47.43 lakh. The total earning from the current financial year will be much more than the previous year.”

He said Neer Mahal is the most popular tourist spot in the state and unless “the Rudrsagar lake is restored by the state government, the tourist site will wither away with adverse effect on tourism”.