The Jagarnath Sagar, one of the biggest lakes of undivided Koraput district, is in need of immediate renovation and proper maintenance. A heritage lake of the Jeypore town, it is filled with weed and is losing its glory due to lack of proper maintenance by the administration.
According to a RTI report by the Minor Irrigation (MI) Division, the Jagarnath Sagar is a reservoir dam project for which Rs 4,38,36,453 spent for different development inside and outside the lake between 2000 and 2010. But between 2011 and 2015, no money has been spent. Though crores of rupees have been spent, still no tangible development has taken place.
According to the Department of Water Resources (DOWR), the Jagarnath Sagar has been handed over in the year 1982 to it with a total area of 157.65 acre of land with a total of 12 bathing points. As per the MIP booklet published, it was informed that the project was constructed long back. The department said in the year 2005-06, a children park and some ancillary development works were done under (RlTAP) Rural long term action plan.
The Fisheries Department has also constructed a number of tanks over an area of 45.8 hectares but according to the department, they don’t have any detail reports of such land in the office for which they have no clear idea about the extent of land being utilized at present by the department. They also informed that they have been using some of the fishery tanks for the pisciculture purpose.
There is a tender taken by the Jeypore municipality for diverting the drain which is the main cause of the weed. Once the drain work completes, further development and renovation work of the lake will be carried out, said Jeypore Sub Collector Chakrawarti Singh Rathor.
According to few researchers and senior people, the Jagarnath Sagar was built in the 17th century by Ramachandra Dev-II, the king of Jeypore kingdom. It is a naturally filled lake and the king named the lake after late Jagarnath Patro, the Diwan of the kingdom, a resident of Modugulu under Jeypore kingdom who had given the design and worked to make the lake useful for the public.
The lake is spread at a total area of 300 acres. The researchers say it benefited the town from early days to meet there daily needs. The entire town is almost dependent on the lake.
In due course of time, many voluntary organizations like Bharat Sangam and SEEWA came forward to clean the lake voluntarily. lakhs of rupees have been spent by the volunteers of Bharat Sangam involving the people for cleaning and maintaining of the lake but lack of interest of the department has put a break for further development of the lake.
As Jagarnath Sagar is a hub of Jeypore city, a huge numbers of family are dependent for their livelihood by selling fish from it, besides in view of its historical importance, the local people have demanded immediate renovation and development of the lake to make it tourist destination.