‘Waste water from Hingna MIDC aidingEichhornia’s growth in Ambazari Lake’

Staff Reporter

The rampant growth of Eichhornia ‘weeds’ in Ambazari Lake is due to industrial waste or sewage water gushing into the lake from Hingna MIDC side, claimed Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC). Launching a drive to clear Eichhornia weeds from the lake, the NMC had put in efforts to find out the reason for rampant growth of the weeds and sewage water contaminating the water body. “Industrial waste is entering in the lake from Hingna MIDC side. Eichhornia weeds grow in stored water. Such a situation is created by contaminated water flowing in from MIDC side,” Dr Gajendra Mahalle, Deputy Municipal Commis-sioner, Solid Waste Manage-ment, told The Hitavada.

During inspection the ongoing drive to clear the water body of Eichhornia weeds, Dr Mahalle visited the spot and other parts on Wednesday.

“We have cleaned 90% weeds from the overflow point of the lake. The remaining weeds will be cleared on Thursday. The cleaning process from the centre of the lake started on Monday. The drive will continue for another 5 days,”

he added. Dr Mahalle also said, “We are taking help of deep water swimmers of the Fire and Emergency Services Department to remove the weeds from the centre of the lake. Good thing is that the weeds are not growing in the lake, and they are accumulating in the water body from the MIDC side.” Eichhornia weeds have a variety of negative impacts once introduced to a freshwater environment.

Eichhornia forms dense, impenetrable mats which clog waterways, making boating, fishing and other water activities impossible. In the last couple of months, regular visitors and fishermen were noticing growth of the weeds in the lake. Nearby residents and morning-walkers also tried to remove weeds from the overflow point of the lake. A video went viral on the social media about a youth clearing the spot which affected overflow of water. Taking a serious note of the issue highlighted by ‘The Hitavada, the civic body swung into action. Taking help of the experts, who advised the civic body to remove the weeds completely, the drive was launched to clean the lake and also protect it from getting contaminated due to inflow of sewage water, he added.