Jubilant over the renovation process of the ages old lake in the naxalite-infested Kandari village in Manpur region of Rajnandgaon district with the initiative of the district administration, the villagers in the area are in the mood of a celebration.
According to the sarpanch Girja Bhuarya and village Patel Sukhendra Bhuarya, the lake of the village was not simply a lake, but a source of life of the villagers. One time it was the main source for drinking water and irrigation for the villagers, they added.
Due to lack of conservation the 50-acre lake has gradually died down and some years ago because of the strong flow water and under current the bund of the lake had been broken down. Because of this reason the lake completely lost its water storage capacity, they said.
On the demand of the villagers, collector Ashok Agrawal had sanctioned Rs50 lakh for the renovation and deepening of the lake.
The district administration, under conservation, has sanctioned Rs4 lakh from Janpad Fund, Rs27 lakh from MNREGA and Rs19 lakh from IAP head for the completion of the work.
According to the chief executive officer of Janpad Panchayat, DD Mandle, the Kandari lake is the only one located in the valley and from about 12 km forest and mountainous area rain water accumulates in it during the rainy season.
Due to strong flow and pressure of rain water, the earthen bund has been broken. looking to this problem, decision had been taken to make a concrete bund, he added.
The collector, during his visit to Kandari village last month, reviewed the situation of the lake and had assured the villagers for its renovation.
Mandle said that the biggest obstacle in the renovation of the Kandari lake was the forest land, which has been removed with the authority empowered on the collector by the state government under the community forest land rights utilisation.
The office-bearers of the panchayat and the villagers, while expressing their gratitude towards the chief minister Dr Raman Singh, MP Madhusudan Yadav, MlA Shivraj Usare and collector Ashok Agrawal, said that now they would not have to go here and there for Nisthar and irrigation purpose.
At the inaugural function of the renovation work of the lake Gulab Goswami, Santosh lara, Janpad member Kamni Gavarne, Phulsingh Markam, Uttam Thakur, additional SP Vijay Agrawal, Janpad CEO DD Mandle and villagers in large number were present.