A view of Ranchi Lake. Picture by Hardeep Singh

Ranchi July 8: The state tourism department promotes the Ranchi Lake as a must-visit destination in its glossy brochures ? which does make the lake look tempting, though it is shrinking.

The lake was dug, near Purani Ranchi, by the British and was spread over more than 53 acres. But today, there are encroachments on over three acres of the water body, according to sources in the Ranchi Municipal Corporation.

A legal move could get the encroachers, Yuvak Sangh, removed but garbage dumping continue to destroy and shrink the water body.

Damaging the lake, admitted Ranchi Municipal Corporation, are the drains from the congested Upper Bazaar area, which empty into the once-beautiful water body. So far, nothing substantial has been done to check this menace.

Ranchi Municipal Corporation administrator, Shashi Ranjan Kumar, said: ?It will require a huge amount of money to make an alternative drainage system.?

During 1991-92, the entire surface of this lake was covered with water hyacinths and the then deputy commissioner, Sudhir Prasad, had taken up the task of clearing this plant growth.

While he was in office he regularly visited the area. He prevented merchants from misusing this water body, which included the cleaning of tins and aluminium sheets used for repairing purposes and making cans and buckets.

Boating was also introduced for sometime. Efforts were made to widen the road around the lake and install street lights, too.

But good intentions mostly have a very short tenure. Besides, administrative apathy and poor law and order maintenance also ensured the deterioration of the lake.

Though water hyacinths have been removed, the water body is full of blue-green algae, a kind of bacteria that soaks up the nutrients from water, said N.S. Sen, from the Ranchi University?s postgraduate department of Zoology. ?The water hyacinths have been replaced by algae bloom, which is equally bad for the lake,? Sen added.

A Ranchi Municipal Corporation source confided, ?When we filled up the ditches to widen the road, we discovered that these stretches were encroached. Now we will have to remove the encroachments first.?

With so many ifs, which include allocation of funds, maintenance of law and order and diversion of the drains, it is a moot question when this lake will be revived.