Besides having heritage status, water bodies today are shrinking and polluting alarmingly due to unfettered urban development in its catchment One such case observed in peri-urban Ahmedabad is of Sarkhej Lake, a 15th century man made lake, adjacent to Sarkhej Roza Mosque Although, both lake and mosque are Heritage Monuments of National Importance under ASI, conserving built heritage is given due importance Consequently, natural catchment of the lake kept getting encroached by high-rise buildings and received little attention by the authorities
While some monument specific studies and initiatives have been taken in this regard, it will be useful to have comprehensive stakeholder assessment and detailed site analysis, to bring out the challenges faced by the lake and its precincts This can then help in forming base for appropriate sustainable catchment area planning and lake-monument precinct management interventions
Sarkhej Lake (also known as Ahmed-sar Tank) was excavated by Sultan Mahmud Begada, son of Mohd Shah II and grandson of Ahmed Shah I, in 15th century. Conceptually, Sarkhej Lake would receive water from interconnected Makarba Lake during monsoons through 3 sluice gates This would keep it wet throughout the year. The tank covers about 17 acres of land and complements the beauty of monument.
The sacred water of lake was used by visitors for executing ‘Vaju’ (ablution), to purify their bodies and souls before entering the Mosque. “The tank was conceptualized on the theme of the 'Earth's Eye', looking into which God measured the depth of his own creation ” as reported by Sarkhej Roza Committee. This clearly depicts the religious and historic significance of the lake,
Before 2006, Sarkhej was a village. Sarkhej Roza Committee (SRC) and Gram Panchayat together managed the Roza Complex The surrounding catchment area had few scattered rural settlement characteristics Tourists used to enjoy boat rides in the lake throughout the year. The Lake was famous for ablution (religious bath), and bird watching too Rapid development around SarkhejGandhinagar Highway corridor took place in 2004 when things started changing. Bhavna Bhavsar, convenor, NGO Ahmedabad Community Foundation, tells that “the construction of high rise buildings on the Sarkhej Gandhinagar highway in 2004 05 led to the loss of greenery in the area. Before 2004, migratory birds, including flamingos, were often seen around lake between December and February,” she adds
Migration increased from city center to the newly added peri-urban areas of Ahmedabad city Continuous increase in population and built density led to encroachment of lake precincts “Due to construction of buildings in surrounding areas, the natural flow of storm water got restricted and is not able reach Makarba and Sarkhej Lake,” tells SY Pathan, Secretary, Sarkhej Roza Committee (SRC). “Surrounding construction activities blocked surface water runoff to the Makarba Lake, restricting its flow further into the Sarkhej Lake”, says Mr. PKV Nair, General Manager, Heritage Project, AMC. As a result of all such activities, following are some of the issues observed that led to deterioration of Sarkhej Lake
In 2006, Sarkhej and Makarba villages were brought under New West administrative zone of AMC jurisdiction. This was the beginning of Real-estate market driven development in the catchment area of Sarkhej – Makarba lakes
Land mafia around the area started digging away the soil illegally from the Makarba lake bed for carrying out construction activities “Builders kept on digging the lake bed and took out soil for constructing nearby flyover and buildings. Nothing was done to restrict this.” This artificial increase in depth of the Makarba Lake restricted water flow from Makarba to Sarkhej Lake, which is why Sarkhej Lake began becoming dry and unsustainable :
Since New-West Zone was a newly added zone in AMC, it lacked availability of basic services in the initial years such as, municipal water supply and sewerage connections It was later when Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for expansion of existing centralized sewerage network of AMC were prepared under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JnNURM). Since settlements came before the municipal infrastructure, Makarba Lake became a central release point for all the wastewater that was generated from surrounding households. “It is estimated that about 70% households in this area have illegal connections that release sewage directly into the Makarba Lake”, said Sampat Bhai Kannojia, caretaker of AMC Borewell in the area.
This has affected water quality of both the lakes extremely, as dirty water from Makarba flows to Sarkhej Lake
Although Ahmedabad is called as an Open Defecation Free (ODF) city, but areas such as Sarkhej-Makarba lake precincts contradict the statement. “Often you will come across people defecating around the edges of Makarba and Sarkhej Lake both early in morning.” told Yasin Bapu. “Such activities (OD) hurt religious sentiments of the people”, said Shaqir Sayyed, taxi driver and resident of Sarkhej village. There are no restrictions on dumping solid waste in Makarba or Sarkhej Lake “All kinds of waste flows with water from Makarba Lake to the tank. People even wash clothes on the lake edges,” says Nannu Bhai Khokhra, security guard, AMC garden adjacent to the Sarkhej tank “No one seems to take cleaning initiatives of the tank. Amul is responsible for managing the AMC garden only,” added Khokhra Ignorance of such issues is resulting in formation of an unhygienic environment in the lake precincts.
Picture Courtesy: Prasenjit
Another issue reported by the local people was of degradation of soil condition of lake bed due to accumulation of dirty water and soil excavation. Zarib Khan Pathan, a frequent visitor of Sarkhej Garden told that “Makarba lake bed has become so deep and marshy, that 1 2 persons died during recent monsoons upon slipping inside it”. This shows the impact is not just limited to lives of flora and fauna only.
Picture Courtesy: Prasenjit Shukla
Picture Courtesy: Gargi Mishra
The polluted water seeps into the soil and has contaminated the ground water quality as well. About 60% people residing in lake precincts are dependent on ground water for domestic usage as reported by Kannojia, the AMC Borewell caretaker “The number of water-borne diseases in the ward are increasing every year,” reported by an AMC official from Health department. Earlier, pumping water through hand pumps was common among residents of Sarkhej village Unfortunately, the depth of ground water table has gone down by average 250ft in the past 10 years as told by Kannojia. People often have to depend on private water tankers during summers. “When summers hit, it becomes difficult to pump water, we have to take it from tankers”, tells Salima Shaikh, a 40 year old local resident.
On ground, it is clearly visible that built structures (monuments) are focused more. ASI has worked hard in restoring various structures such as pillars, jharokhas and staircase that lead to lake, as reported by ASI and SRC. But there is a strong need for intervening the heritage lake for making it sustain longer.
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When we talk about Sarkhej Makarba Lake and its precincts, there are multiple stakeholders involved that perform different functions. No study has done the comprehensive assessment of all these stakeholders involved in planning and management of Lake and its precincts Therefore, it is now essential to understand who is responsible for which types of issues.
ASI is Central Government body, ideally responsible for maintenance and management of all the heritage sites and monuments of National Importance As mentioned before, Sarkhej Roza Complex (consisting of lake and monuments both) is listed as ASI heritage. Hence, ASI is supposed to look after whole of complex
“Conservation does not mean only architectural restoration but it also means preserving the essence of the monument, which is of great historical importance to the city,” Vision of SRC Sarkhej Roza committee is the oldest body that is managing the Sarkhej Roza mosque It complements the work of ASI by managing the Sarkhej Roza complex and tourist infrastructure inside it. Committee even tried to work hard to conserve the lake back in 2008 09. “8 years back, we worked hard on keeping the Sarkhej Lake clean by restricting people from washing clothes and throwing garbage into We requested Municipality to provide water supply connection to people so that they no longer have to wash clothes in lake,” says SY Pathan, the Secreatary of SRC. He also told that they made capacity building efforts 5 years back to prevent contamination of lake water due to human activities. Unfortunately, the results could not be visible for more than a month as they lacked support from other stakeholders “Since the status of “World Heritage City” is limited to only Walled city of Ahmedabad, no attention is given for the heritage outside it,” tells Pathan. He further adds, “There is a strong need to conduct regular meetings with ULB and take proper actions, so that we can save our heritage ”
Recently, AMC received the status of World Heritage City for their efforts in conserving built heritage inside walled city Although, the central part of the city given due attention, peri urban area lacking it. On being asked about the of AMC in conserving Sarkhej Lake, PKV Nair, General Manager, Heritage Projects, AMC told that, “It is the primary duty of ASI to protect and conserve monument. AMC’s role is limited manage the public garden, adjacent mosque and lake.” The public garden presently being managed by Amul Management contract basis. Efforts lacking by AMC for cleaning Makarba Lake which feeds into the Sarkhej Lake Also, just cleaning the lake is not the solution, unless illegal activities in the surroundings are stopped
NGOs and communities are two important stakeholders that can make a difference. Ahmedabad Community Foundation (ACF) is one of the NGOs that tried working for the Sarkhej Roza Monument, but the efforts for conserving the lake are again lacking. NGOs and communities can help in implementation and monitoring of initiatives. It is also the duty of local residents to bring the change at their level first. “Public participation and public awareness about the consequences of issues and its solutions, is strongly needed” says Ahmed Hussain, resident of the area.
After assessing the role of key players and stakeholders involved in the planning and management process of Sarkhej lake and its precincts, it was observed that no one party is responsible for degradation of our natural heritage The transfer of blame game will continue unless there is an integrated model stablished clearly This integrated model would then form a base for Sustainable Lake Catchment area Planning so that out natural heritage (Sarkhej Lake) can be sustained
Hence, it is the duty of both people and government organizations to work in sync with each other and help our water heritage in sustaining longer. : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKnEIOLDK4c&feature=youtu.be