Kukkarahalli lake is one of our precious heritage lakes. Thanks to the great vision of our erstwhile rulers of Mysore in today’s much talked about ‘water conservation’ nearly two centuries ago, the lake fed drinking water to this small town of Wodeyars, a fact forgotten now. The lake has its own history worth recalling. So also the lakes around Mysore.Unfortunately, these lakes are decaying and dying. Luckily two lakes have seen some care and rejuvenation – the Karanji and the Kukkarahalli. Kukkarahalli can become a major attraction for tourists and the people of Mysore for bird watching, boating and the like. A
little bit of imagination and planning can do wonders to it.
The lake right now needs upkeeping and development, but both the Mysore University and the City Corporation have other pressing matters to attend. The people of Mysore can be generous to chip in a little to maintain this once glorious lake, the vast water sheet of which spread up to Manasa Gangotri Gandhi Bhavan, Hunsur Road and Crawford Hall once. As some improvements have already been made and the lake needs further development and treatment of sewage water flowing into it, it needs funds. A small fee for the visitors and a small monthly fee for the regulars, who replenish their body and mind morning or evening, can go a long way in protecting their own historic lake. They can add a little of their own to the great service the Wodeyars had done to Mysore when they ruled this state.

Levying entry fee was under consideration and, presumably, while restoration was being undertaken two gates  at the eastern and southern side were erected keeping  this in view . After discussion the idea was dropped. In fact, even charging parking fee for the vehicles was taken up by the University and had to be dropped due to severe criticism, coupled with no notice or preparation. Charging a fee is not workable for many reasons.

 To quote examples from New Delhi, Nehru Park and  Hauz Khas Park are huge areas with many facilities like fountains, well manicured lawns, very well laid out walkways, play facilities for children, rose garden and   deer park (In Hauz Khas), where no entry fees is charged. It is maintained by the municipal authorities with their own resources. In comparison  Kukkarhalli lake is  a tiny area and, already, after spending Rs. 91 lakhs it is seen how the whole area is going to seed by callous neglect within a matter of 18 months after its restoration. With corruption abounding somebody was telling me that if fee is charged, duplicate tickets will make roaring business.

 Even comparison with Karanji Kere Nature park where fee is charged is not logical as it has lot of facilities. First of all, the people will oppose and there is no guarantee that the authorities will  maintain it the way they do in Lal Baug. Even in Lal Baugh fee is only charged after 9am and earlier it is free. There is another fallacy involved. It is stated that Kukkarahalli comes under the control of the University. My view is that they are merely the custodians and the tank is an invaluable and heritage asset of Mysore. Therefore, it has to be the joint responsibility of three agencies including MUDA and MCC. They have to sit together to come up with a solution of defining mutual responsibility and financial arrangement because it is not the question of the tank only but  of the link channel which brings water and cutting off sewage.

 

Related item: Kukkarahalli mo(u)rning walkers

I have little doubt that I have left my deep footprints on the tankbund. They are unlike the footprints of R.K. Narayan or K.V. Puttappa, the two bright stars in the milkyways of English and Kannada literature. I am only a jogger who treads the same path. The path that has nourished literature and lives alike. No longer so. There has emerged a peculiar food cycle. The birds that feed on the fish in this lake have followed the fishes' way. The fish are dead or dying because of water contamination. The birds are dead or dying because of food contamination. If birds are gone, can their watchers be far behind - there is a fish stall just outside the lake area? 

Well, this is just a repeat of what happened ten years ago. I was assisting my photographer in making a heap of dead fish so he could take their pictures. I was  multiple-tasking - blocking my nostrils because of the stench, looking for dead fish on the banks, poking them with a big stick to add to the heap, while at the same time being watchful against any crocodiles that cohabit other aquatic creatures in this lake. (would anybody know how they survive contamination?) 

All this had changed over recent years. Aquatic life had got a fresh lease because of restoration of the lake. Sewage had been diverted, after years of debate on division of responsibility of diversion. Insured against sewer, citizens thronged the spot again. This water body promised to spawn a new civilisation. It was adding to the lifespan of a whole lot of Mysoreans, who ran, jogged, walked, worked out, or turned avid yoga buffs, in accordance with their taste, need, ability, and medical advice. It was as if life and death, oxygen and carbon dioxide competed to occupy the same space. Morning and evening, Kukkarahally seemed the only place in Mysore where there was activity of the kind witnessed in, say, Churchgate, Mumbai. 

Just about the time that the lake held out promise of a healthy life for those who breathed the air blowing across it, that stench has started emanating from it. Well, there are at least two ways by which the lake can be restored. One, levy a token fee on users who will have all those extra years of good health (thus gained) in which to earn that amount! Two, lease out the huge tracts of waste land, where stand the weeds now, to interested horticulturists. The second measure will beautify the area, while at the same time, earn substantial revenues to the university, the proud owner of Kukkarahally Lake. If nothing else, the money can support construction of toilets for use by those who cannot hold it back as they move around the lake.

     

 

As said i am of the opinion the path that was made for the jogger's and walkers, with the intrusion of the human activity into the other side of the area as endagaredagnered the life of the birds coming area.

On my way back visit to Bombay in 2001 to Hira Nandani area where most of the films are shot i visited the park in the near by vicinity where in they charge a Rs5/- for the entry.

I think we too should know the value of the park and lakes if not the time will say, the generation will have no lung space to breathe

Save Park and Lakes, at the same time charge some money which can push the upkeep of the area and money collected should be rightly used.

 

It is a good idea. The entry fee should be nominal, and the amount collected should be used for the betterment of the lake.

Mysore Urban Development Authority, Mr Ramaprasad. Your are right, MUDA ought to know what to do with the lake.