Maharashtra government plans to acquire 87 hectares around Lonar lake

The Maharashtra forest department has submitted a proposal to the district collector of Buldhana to acquire land admeasuring 87 hectares (ha) around the Lonar Crater

The Maharashtra forest department has submitted a proposal to the district collector of Buldhana to acquire land admeasuring 87 hectares (ha) around the Lonar Crater Lake in Buldhana to ensure its protection. This area forms an ejecta blanket around the 77.69-ha lake, which is a meteorite-impact crater that occurred almost 50,000 years ago and is a rare cosmic phenomenon. The ejecta blanket is the material debris surrounding it.

HT Image

The proposal was submitted last week to the district collector’s office based on the submissions of a December 2019 technical committee, appointed by the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court (HC) in October 2019. The report had directed that the ejecta blanket be protected to ensure conservation and prevent further degradation of the site. Though HC had banned any construction within 500 metres (m) around the crater rim in 2015, peripheral areas include government offices, schools, and a section of Lonar town. Nearly 20% of the ejecta blanket comprises settlements while the remaining 80% is free human disturbances, the report stated.

According to the latest proposal, nine plots of private land spread across 86.94 ha will be acquired from farmers. “Bringing it under the state’s jurisdiction will allow enhanced and safe scientific research, and nullify any threats to the blanket,” said Manoj Khairnar, deputy conservator of forest, Akola.

Located 500 km from Mumbai and over 90 km from Buldhana city, the oval shaped Lonar Lake is a part of the 365.25-ha Lonar Wildlife Sanctuary. The crater rim crest has a continuous ejecta blanket extending across an average of 1,410 metres. Currently, only 1.22 hectare area is protected as part of the sanctuary through fencing (see images). “An additional 1,750 m of the blanket is yet to be fenced at a cost of Rs. 30 lakh. Funds are awaited under the regional tourism development plan for various departments,” said Khairnar.

The technical committee, comprising geologists from the Central University of Karnataka and an independent geologist from Navi Mumbai, had carried out field visits in September and November last year. “Conservation and promotion of Lonar should be done as a hub of international scientific research and promotion of educational activities. Thus, maintenance should be handed over to the forest department,” the report read.

Meanwhile, one of the HC petitioners suggested the area will be better protected if made part of the sanctuary. “Recurring development pressures persist for decades. The Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, had first suggested the protection of the black diamond in 2006. However, 15 years later, nothing has happened. Real-estate development concerns combined with profitable intent of private farmers who acquired land at low rates several decades ago but now intend on selling them, five times higher will make acquiring this unprotected crater debris a difficult process,” said Sudhakar Bugdane, petitioner and member of a 2002 committee to conserve the crater site.

Further highlighting the threat to the ejecta blanket, the HC in an order delivered on July 22 directed state agencies to develop detailed project reports for the Lonar-Manth bypass road and the Lonar-Kinhi-Saraswati road to ensure the eco-sensitive area around Lonar Wildlife Sanctuary, including parts of the black diamond, are not affected.

Suman Chandra, district collector and magistrate, Buldhana, could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts.

NATURAL FACTORS LED TO CHANGE IN LONAR LAKE COLOUR, NOT POLLUTION: BOMBAY HC

The Nagpur bench of HC on Wednesday took cognisance of reports submitted by research bodies such as the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, Agharkar Research Institute, Pune, and the Geological Survey of India regarding the change in the colour of the water in Lonar Lake, which turned pink in June. “The conclusions and findings of these reports are almost similar. The common conclusion is that change of colour of the water of the lake has occurred on account of natural reasons and the factors responsible for the same are dunaliella algae and halobacteria (salt-loving bacteria). These organisms, as per reports, release a substance called carotenoid under stress conditions. This substance is pink in colour, which turns the water pink. They also indicate that pollution was not the cause for this phenomenon,” said HC in its order.