Death of a Lake- Jamwa, Rajasthan

This, was the venue for the Rowing Event in 1982 Asiad Games!

It is still a spectacular view from this window, but imagine it shimmering with water and teeming with life – birds, fish and others. Our room could have easily charged us double in that case.

Ramgarh Lake used to be fed by rivers 60 kms away. The reasons for its death are many, debatable and probably a combination of all the viewpoints, we heard from the locals. Building of anicuts and constant encroachment onto the dam, feeding river and the lake itself are stated as primary causes. Some of them accepted that they had started farming closer and closer to the lake, because the water was good and they were able to grow Maize – and who doesn’t love a good ‘makke ki kheench’, when in Rajasthan. The land is barren now.

Till 20 years back, this was a water source for Jaipur, a picnic spot and a hub of happy economic activities. Locals were able to grow and sell ‘Bhutta’ to the tourists and earn well, the lodge we stayed in probably charged a premium then and economic benefits would have spread to the whole village.

Could it be that increasing tourism made it so lucrative to push the lakes boundaries, literally, that long-term impact was ignored?

Whatever the reason for its death, it was sad to sit over-looking an ecosystem, which got destroyed because everyone took it for granted and no one paused to think. Sad, that the villagers had to lose their livelihood in the conflict between short term profits, long term sustainability and general indifference. 

#ecosystemservices #sustainabledevelopment #wetlands