Periyapatna: Villagers of the Thathanahalli taluk have urged the government authorities concerned to plug the water leakages and clear encroachments from their village Lake, which spreads across 62 acres and 23 guntas of land.

The villagers are worried about water leakages from damaged pipes, aqueducts and other outlets of the Lake, leading to a huge amount of water wastage.

This Lake provides water to  200 acres of land for agriculture activities. It also supplies water for livestock and helps the 450 families of the village to thrive.

The water in the Thathanahalli Lake is drawn from the historic Arasinakere Lake through an aqueduct. Because of the activities conducted by local fishermen and meat shop owners in the surrounding areas of the Thathanahalli Lake,  the water is polluted with sewage water discharged by them into this aqueduct.

The Lake bund has also been affected as regular travel is undertaken by villagers to Satyala, Panchavalli from the Mangaluru- Bengaluru Main Road.  

Adding to the villagers’ woes are the damaged water pipes that have been installed by the government authorities following a nearby road construction in the vicinity of the Lake.

Villagers have accused the authorities of installing inferior small sized pipes instead of big sized  quality pipes. Most of the pipes that had been installed during the road works are now damaged and congested with mud.

Because of the damaged pipes, water is overflowing onto the roads causing problems to motorists and other road users. Compounding the problem further is the fact that land owners have encroached the Lake and its surroundings.

The unplanned Lake structure, encroachment of Lake-beds, diversion and distortion of storm-water drains, discharge of sewage water into natural storm water drains and aqueduct damage have all caused a disastrous effect. Massive amount of water wastage is a major concern, said Shekhar, a resident of Thathanahalli.

Villagers Mahesh, Manu, Channabasava, Paramesh, Harish, Bharath, Shivakumar, Ravi and Anand have also accused the Zilla Panchayat (ZP) of failing  to take action to prevent water seepages. The villagers claim that they had filed several complaints in this regard to the ZP Engineers.

In case the water leakages are not repaired, the villagers have threatened to stage a massive protest in front of the ZP Engineering Sub-Division Office.

They also wanted the local MLA K. Mahadev to play an active role in the villagers’ welfare and  come forward to protect the Lake for the larger public benefit.