Interaction Program at Rhino Lake

?Dying Lake?. Sad and doomed story of the lakes being dried by continuous rising of the temperature was circulated in the newspaper last week. This was worrying news for all the stakeholders, city denizens and eco-lover like me. I searched for multiple option on how to revitalize the lost lake. Apart from few blogposts and some general news heading, I got nothing scientifically proven method or trustworthy methods. I was sadden to realize we can only protect and conserve but revitalization was herculean task.

This made me ponder of all the activities that we have done in the lake. From enjoying the biodiversity of the beautiful and awe-inspiring place to my childhood. The water, its soil and wilderness of the place. Everything is stalwartly linked to my childhood so is of many other who grew up in the place. The place is extraordinarily beautiful and Just 10 minutes of ride and you get to enjoy the serenity of the nature that is completely devoid of rustle and hustle of the city area. Dying lake means lost my of my childhood memories. This is frustrating to realize this is being happened right now and I myself am witnessing nature beauty fading away.

Upon the strong demand to highlight the issue of Rhino Lake, Bharatpur Municipality encompassed ?Interaction Program at Rhino Lake? in its One Week Environment Day Celebration. Its was great opportunity for youths like us to partake at such event. In the event, we had gathering of District Forestry Officer, representation from Community Forest, Community Based Organization, Local NGOs, Lions-Leo Club, Youth Organization and students from Environment/Agriculture/Fisheries/Veterinary Faculties along with media personnel.

Most of the discussion were focused on the previous activities that were being carried out to conserve the lake. Community people strongly jibed concerned authorities to neglect such precious and valuable properties of the mother earth. Forestry Officer declared his strong commitment in promoting and funding ?action? based projects and likewise.  Addressing the mass he said,?Rhino Lake is major source of water for all creatures living here. Dying lake clearly means the loss of drinking source of water. If we have such many more dried lakes, sustaining our Ecology becomes not  just a great challenge but an unachievable commitment. So our prime focus should be on conservation of such water source as soon as possible.? Meanwhile other officers apologized for neglecting such issues and expressed  their ?positive? commitment towards the dying rivers.

Community based Organization expressed their utter disappointment in the complex and jargon-ed filled policies and unsupportive behavior of few officials in the past to conduct such environmental friendly activities. It is open secret previously, environment was belittled by concerning authorities. However with new intake of the officers and changing time, nowadays we find comparatively eco-steward officers in our district. Another great vibe for eco lovers.

We as students suggested for ?ecommercilaization? of the lake. That is to promote eco-tourism and also do some environmentally friendly commercial activities in the place so that many people will come to know about the essence of the place. Fishing farming, boating were few activities we suggested for commercialization of the place. Our intention was to make CBOs strong financially and make them capable to survive even without donation. We got positive reviews on these.

Three hours long discussion was concluded with cleanliness program at the place.

It was for me great opportunity to directly interact with all the stakeholder at the same place and express our ideas. We urged officers to consider and include youths and students as well while making planning and budgeting. They were happy to see youths being driven in such activities.

Let?s hope this year, we will be able to see some projects being made for Rhino lake and nearby other lakes as well. I am quite hopeful the connection and network we built up and commitment that we have done in front of all the people will give visible and observable results in days to come. Officers have made commitment to promote Rhino Lake and other precious lake that are sharing same ill-fate and provide assistance in such matter. They are also lobbying to sans complicated procedures. We youths are waiting for our voices not just to be heard but also be accepted.

Great and Fruitful Program Indeed.

PS. Its kind of request and help from my dearest and nearest Eco Gen Members to support us by spreading word on demand for conservation of vital lake like Rhino. Its nor just a lake but also arsenal of great tales and memories