UDAIPUR, July 5 (TIWN): Acting on the direction of the Tripura High Court to the state government to demolish at least two sides of cemented embankment of Kalyansagar, holy lake of Tripureswari temple, in Udaipur of Gomati Tripura to save the aquatic life, the Udaipur administration has already begun the demolishing work of the artificial embankment of the lake from Saturday, says Udaipur SDM Ajit Debnath.

Talking to TIWN correspondent on Sunday, Udaipur SDM Ajit Debnath said that the Bulldoze of embankment of Kalyansagar Lake has already begun in full swing from Saturday and will require a time period of at least 7 days to complete the entire process of demolishing the embankment of the Kalayansagar Lake.

Earlier the administration had broken one side of the cement embankment of the Kalyan Sagar Lake and   arranged a temporary measure with sack of mud to preserve the livelihood of the tortoises, especially for their breeding of off-springs.

Interestingly, years have been passed that the administration had adopted this step but so far there is no full-fledged report of any re-production of tortoise on the bank of the kalyan sagar. As a result the HC has ordered to entirely demolish the cemented embankment of the lake to save the rare species of the Botsami turtle in the lake.

SDM Ajit Debnath further said that the demolition will be carried out in the eastern side of the lake to provide a natural breeding ground for the turtles which were earlier witnessed in a verge of extinction. However, the devotees will be allowed to visit the lake in the western side of the lake on a regular basis.

He further said that it will require around two months for completing the entire process of bulldoze and re-constructing of the embankment of the lake.

It is also planned to conduct a regular monitoring at the Kalyansagar Lake to restrict any kind of disturbances to the turtles and also to contain pollution, said Debnath.

However, it is to be mentioned here that the rare species of Bostami turtles housing in the lake have faced a serious crisis in breeding after cementing all four embankments of the lake a couple of years back. The cementing has gravely affected the health of aquatic beings in the lake and resulted into deaths of many turtles and fishes over the year.

According to the experts, it is only the construction of the embankments that increased the mortality of the turtles spoiling the natural habitat as well as places for laying eggs for this turtles.

In 2014, the expert committee constituted by the state government had recommended to demolish the cemented embankment and to facilitate a natural breeding ground for the water bodies. They also recommended steps to improve the Lake Environment, shifting of some fish from the lake and sufficient supply of food for the turtles and big fishes, besides restriction on human activities disturbing the aquatic life, but no action.

It is to be mentioned that defying all the warnings of environmentalists the temple authorities decided to erect cemented embankments around the banks of Kalyan Sagar in 1998. Since then more than 20 deaths of N-Nigricans turtles were recorded. In 2012 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) had declared this Bostami species turtles as an extinct species. A lot of controversies started to arise since then.

However, it is expected that this instant decision of the HC may help in saving the life of the Aquatic animals in the lake

Kalyan Sagar is located on the eastern side of the Mata Tripuraswari Temple which is 3 km. away towards south from Udaipur town, Tripura. A big lake Kalyan Sagar just down to the Hillock at the backside of the Temple adds to its beauty. This natural pond has varieties of aqua species. The area of the Kalyan Sagar Lake is 2.752 acre. The lake is considered sacred and devotees worship the fishes and tortoises present here. Kalyan Sagar is famous for very rare species of tortoise in large numbers.