Puducherry’s Bahour lake shrinks amid encroachments, clogged feeder channels

Bahour Lake, Puducherry’s second-largest freshwater lake and an important irrigation source, is gradually losing its water-spread area because of unchecked cultivation, encroachments, and poorly maintained feeder channels, according to farmers and environmental activists.Spread over 1,765 acres, the lake has been shrinking over the years due to human interventions, including agricultural activity within its water-spread area and pattas issued by the Revenue Departments of Puducherry and Tamil Nadu, they said. Small bunds, pathways and other alterations have reportedly been created to facilitate cultivation.HistoryThe lake, believed to predate the Chola period, was deepened during the reign of the Cholas. It is fed by the Bangaru Vaikal, which branches off from the Sornavur Anaicut on the Thenpennaiar river, at a distance of 16.8 km. The channel has a surplus weir, while a portion of the tank, including its bund, falls in neighbouring Cuddalore district of Tamil Nadu.Legend has it that on hearing that famine was prevalent in those days in the area, Bangari, a dancer in the area, constructed the canal at her expense while her sister Singari bore the expenses to raise the bunds. In the 1970s, the tank served an ayacut of 1,740 acres — 1,689 acres in Puducherry and 76 acres in Tamil Nadu.V. Chandrasekhar, president of the Bangaru Vaickal Neeraadhara Kootamaippu, a farmers’ collective and water users’ association, said the lake had nearly dried up because of poor maintenance of the feeder channels and the absence of desilting work for decades. A channel of the Bahour lake covered with thick vegetation due to lack of desilting | Photo Credit: S.S. Kumar “The lake has not been properly desilted since 1980. Water hyacinth has spread across the northern stretches of the canal, while water is being diverted to irrigate crops grown in the lake area. The point where the canal joins the lake has also been encroached upon at several places,” he said.Mr. Chandrasekhar alleged that the Revenue Departments of Puducherry and Tamil Nadu had issued pattas within the lake’s water-spread area, enabling 136 persons to cultivate single- and multi-season crops.“Cultivation in the lakebed could reduce its capacity to store monsoon rainwater and affect groundwater recharge in surrounding areas. Feeder channels intended to carry runoff into the lake had become clogged with weeds, silt, and overgrown vegetation. A dry lakebed remains part of the waterbody. It cannot be treated as private agricultural land,” an environmentalist said. Standing paddy crops raised on the water expanse area of the Bahour Lake in Puducherry | Photo Credit: S.S. Kumar Sivakumar, a farmer from Karaimedu, said encroachments had already caused the lake to lose its identity. Illegal fishing had further worsened the situation, he alleged. He said the auction of fishing rights had been stopped, but some local residents continued to fish illegally, allegedly damaging sluices and violating the ban. Despite repeated representations to the authorities, no action had been taken, he said.The water users’ association has urged the Puducherry government to hand over maintenance of waterbodies to tank associations. Mr. Chandrasekhar said tanks in the region had historically been managed by local communities, from the Kudimaramathu system in the pre-French period to the Syndicate Agricole and Caisse Commune systems during the French regime. The Tank Rehabilitation Project Puducherry, implemented between 1998 and 2008, had doubled the storage capacity of several tanks, he said.“Though 82 of the 84 irrigation tanks are owned by the Local Administration Department, it lacks the expertise and manpower to manage them. The responsibilities are with the Public Works Department. The government should establish a separate Water Resources Department, as in other States, and enact a Participatory Irrigation Management Act,” he said.The association also called for the reconstitution of the Tank Rehabilitation Project Puducherry and the creation of a decentralised, community-managed irrigation system to protect waterbodies and prevent the wastage of water resources.