Bindusagar lake in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 26: The beautification work of Bindusagar lake is over, but the quality of water and its level in the religious pond still remains a challenge for the municipal corporation. The lake is 1,300ft long and 700ft wide.

The dredging operation by the Odisha Construction Corporation Limited (OCCL) was suspended three months ago. Now, expert opinion of the IIT Chennai has become necessary because even after the dredging, a major portion of the lake looks dry.

In June 2013, the OCCL got the dredging job and was asked to complete it within six months. The work began on June 22 and was supposed to end by December 21 last year. However, it has overshot the deadline by nearly a year.

Deputy commissioner (projects and public relation), Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation, Srimanta Mishra said: “Before the dredging, IIT Chennai was consulted for their opinion on how to increase the water level. But since there is no substantial improvement even after dredging, the same experts were requested to give their opinion again.”

Senior engineer, OCCL, J.P. Majhi said: “Dredging needs a comfortable water level so that the machine can float and pick up mud and silt. It was not possible to dredge the entire lake. There are five natural water aquifers but other areas constitute solid rock which makes it very difficult to undertake effective dredging.”

“To retain some water, dredged material was dumped at a corner of the lake. In this manner, water would have flowed back into the lake, while excavators cleared the silt. This has helped increase the depth of water in the lake near the aquifers. Since the lake has not inlet or outlet, water in the lake is not affected much by rainwater.”

The OCCL experts also thought about using weed killers. But since people use the water, officials feared it might cause toxicity. “Weeds and lotus plants in the lake also cause water to dry up,” Majhi said.

For the peripheral development of the water body, Rs 6.01 crore was spent from the allocation under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Additionally, Rs 3.35 crore was used from the National River Conservation Directorate for bio-remediation of the water. While the JNNURM component was utilised completely, only Rs 2.55 crore of the NRCD money has been used so far.

Sources said that of the Rs 3.01 crore earmarked for dredging by the civic body in the first phase, the OCCL needed Rs 1.5 crore to carry out the operation but received only Rs 58 lakh. Consequently, rest of the work remained suspended.