Maharashtra wants to put Lonar lake on world heritage map

Maharashtra’s famous Lonar crater lake in Buldhana district just could get world heritage status if the government has its way. The state, on Monday, announced that it was working towards this goal.

However, a more immediate matter plaguing the beautiful lake is contamination by sewage from Lonar town. “We have already started the process of stopping water in the lake from getting contaminated. Once that is taken care of, we will try to get world heritage status for the lake,” tourism minister Vijaykumar Gavit said in the legislative council.

Leader of opposition Pandurang Phundkar had alleged that the government was doing nothing to stop the contamination of the lake. “Bacteria that could help prevent global warming have been found in the lake. If the lake water continues to be contaminated, there is danger of the bacteria not surviving,” Phundkar said.

Gavit said a wall had been built around the lake to prevent sewage from seeping into the lake. “There is a need to lift the sewage water into another pond. We will make more funds available to complete the project,” Gavit promised.

Conservation experts and historians are more than happy with the government’s plan. Historian Sharada Dwivedi said, “Wherever there is a declared site, it gets more tourists and also gets local citizenry attracted towards it. It would be good to have a heritage site that is not manually built.”

Sharad Upasani, former chairperson, Mumbai Heritage Conservation Committee, said, “They will have to first look after the encroachments and pollution around the lake.”