It will take about one month to remove about 8,151 cubic metres of debris and deposits from the Naini lake in Nainital. Officials said this to the Nainital District Magistrate Deependra Kumar Chaudhary who inspected the area on Tuesday.
The District Magistrate directed the Public Works Department executive engineer that the task of cleaning the Naini lake and nullahs should be completed before the advent of monsoon season. He issued instructions for the number of labourers to be increased here. The district magistrate inspected the boat stand at Tallital, the cleaning of nullahs pump house and the damaged wall near Naina Devi temple being reconstructed. The PWD executive engineer informed about the quantity of debris in the lake and nullahs, adding that it would take one month to clear the same from the Naini lake.
He added that from Wednesday 160 labourers will be put to work for removing the debris from the lake and clearing the nullahs. Payment for the work will be made to the contractor for every cubic metre of debris removed. The debris are being surveyed by the departmental engineers, based on which payment will be made to the contractor. He further informed that labourers are working to remove the debris from the lake whereas from Wednesday, the debris on the road above the lake will be removed using a mechanical excavator during the fixed time from 10 PM to 4 AM daily. The debris will be transported using six dumpers and deposited at the designated place near Toota Pahad. At this site, a retaining wall will be constructed and the debris will be dumped there to enable development of a parking place. Permission for dumping the debris near Toota Pahad has been secured from the cantonment board. The PWD executive engineer further informed that the cleaning of five of the nullahs draining into the Naini lake is currently in progress. The work of cleaning the remaining 37 nullahs will be started soon and completed in a period of 20 days, he added.
The District Magistrate also appealed to the tourists and public to desist from throwing garbage in the nullahs, stressing that waste should be thrown only in garbage bins. He also directed the official concerned to keep an eye on the situation and immediately penalise those found throwing garbage in the lake or the nullahs. The District Magistrate was informed by the official that till now about 300 people had been penalised for littering.