A new lease of life for pond in Yeoor forest………PrashantRangnekar
Mumbai A small pond in the Yeoor range of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park (SGNP) has got a new of lease of life after the park authorities desilted it and decided to ban immersion of idols in it. The pond was used for immersing Ganesha idols until last year. According to the park authorities, it has decided not to allow any immersion in the pond from this year.
The depth of the pondnow 20 ft deep has been increased with help of three poclain machines and two JCB machines. Over 1000 trucks of silt that mostly consisted of plaster of paris and hay used for making Ganesha idols have been removed from the pond. Sources said that the forest department had to spend around Rs 10 lakh for carrying out the entire exercise.
The desilting work has helped increase the depth of the pond, said Yeoor range forest officer P R Masurkar. It also proves to be an ideal place for people, especially college students, who want to take a break during the day.
This small pond is a water source for leopards and other animals in the range, especially in the summer while other sources in the range dry up, he said.
The pond, which is in the Manpada beat of the Yeoor range in Thane, is a result of extensive quarrying in the area. The pond situates in an abandoned stone quarry. Quarrying activity was allowed in the park before it was declared a reserve forest.
The Yeoor range of the park has two ponds and even in summer these ponds are full.
Sources said that local Shiv Sena leaders had resisted a move by the park authorities to ban immersion in the pond last year, claiming that this would lead to a law and order problem in the city. Finally, political will prevailed. This year, the authorities are in no mood to change their decision. We have cleaned the pond and immersion of idols means futility of the efforts taken. Moreover, the park is a reserved forest area, added Masurkar.
This is not the first time that the pond has been desilted. In 1997, we had built a bund to block the water and desilted the pond. At that time we had removed around 100 trucks of muck from the pond, said Punam Singavi from Hariyali.