Lakes -Badkhal, Surajkund & Damdama disappear in mining pit

The Times of India

Surajkund and its adjoining lake, Badkhal, dried up a year ago. And now Damdama too has shrivelled up farmhouses are coming up on its dry bed. The greed of man both for mining stones and grabbing land is causing an ecological disaster in the Faridabad district of Haryana.

The lakes at Surajkund and Badkhal were popular getaways for Delhites and others because of their water bodies. Today, locals play cricket while villagers graze cattle on their dry beds. The residents of the area who have seen the tourist flow getting reduced to a trickle over the years complain that no effort was ever made to maintain the water flow to the historical Surajkund built in 10th century by King Surajpal of Tomar Dynasty to catch "the rain water from the hills''.

According to ASI officials, since the Kund has dried up, the complex hardly attracts any tourists except during the crafts mela. "The Kund has dried upsince the natural rain water supply chain has been blocked because of constructions. So, the water lost due to evaporation and natural recharge of groundwater was never replenished adequately,'' said a tourism department official, who did not wish to be named.

The Surajkund and Badkhal lakes, of course, have been killed by the unregulated mining all across the Aravalis in Faridabad and Gurgaon prior to Supreme Court imposing a blanket ban. "Since the gaping mine holes were never rehabilitated, the rain water does not reach the water bodies or, for that matter, even Damdama Lake. In many areas, the mining pits have breached the groundwater level and hence slowly these water bodies dried up,'' said Conservator of Forests R P Balwan.

An alarm had been sounded in the hydrological report submitted by the Ministry of Environment in its affidavit before the forest bench of Supreme Court in August last year. It had mentioned that these used mining pits were found "filled with water'' leading to "massive evaporation of groundwater'' about 8.86 lakh ccm of fresh water.

The report was prepared by the Chandigarh office of the Central Ground Water Board. It had also mentioned that "mining was mainly carried out below the water table by pumping out of groundwater'' and "dewatering of the mines had affected the groundwater regime, resulting in depletion of groundwater resources''.

"The natural drainage pattern has also altered due to mining and dumping of waste material,'' the report stated. R K Srinivasan, a researcher with the Centre for Science and Environment, too blames the indiscriminate mining. "Surajkund and Badkhal lakes dried up due to mining, massive quarrying and colonisation. We need to urgently restore the catchment area and to go for large-scale watershed management.'' Experts also point out that the Aravali rocks are predominantly quartzite which don't have porosity. "These rocks also don't have permeability meaning they don't have the capacity to allow flow of water in between grains,'' said an expert.

Earlier, when natural sources were active, these factors were not so relevant. Groundwater board officials warn that the drying up of these lakes doesn't augur well for the water supply to the twin cities. While Faridabad is 100% dependent on groundwater, Gurgaon gets 40% of its supply from under the ground.