It has taken over Rs 1 crore and two decades to turn a two-bigha pond in Santoshpur into a lake.

An open-air theatre and a pay-and-use toilet will come up on a four-cottah plot adjacent to the waterbody.

The money for the project will come from parliamentarian Sujan Chakraborty’s local area development fund. He has already provided Rs 73 lakh for the purpose.

Municipal affairs minister Asok Bhattacharya formally inaugurated the lake after its beautification at a function on Monday evening, amid cheers from local residents.

Sunderbans development minister Kanti Ganguly, mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya and municipal commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay were present at the function.

“If the local residents and the state government did not come forward to save the waterbody, it would have been eaten up by the promoters. Pailan Group will maintain the lake for free,” stated Ganguly at the function.

Local clubs played an active role in the preservation of the lake. The residents of the area were using the lake for bathing and washing. Washing in the lake has now been banned.

Local councillor Subrata Dasgupta said the Deshapriya Park model will be followed while constructing the pay-and-use toilet. There will be an eatery above the toilet.

The pond was dug about 40 years ago. The state government declared the plot vested in 1985 and handed it over to the Calcutta Municipal Corporation for development. The pond was dug again in the early 1990s, but the Left Front board could not take up any development scheme because of paucity of funds.

The Trinamul-BJP board, however, did not consider the project.

The lake was Ganguly’s pet project for over 20 years. Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had pointed that out during the launch of a sports hub in Hatibagan, a pet project of Sudhangshu Sil, on Sunday afternoon.

“The long-cherished dreams of two former mayoral council members (Sil and Ganguly) are coming true at opposite ends of the city within 24 hours of each other,” said Bhattacharjee at the launch.