The State government will introduce boating in the historic Paapnash lake on the outskirts of the city in order to tap its tourist potential.
The lake next to the Paapnash Temple attracts morning walkers and wildlife photographers. The serene water body at the centre of the Bage Karanja jungle that is home to several species of birds and animals is expected to attract families and tourists who want to spend a few hours in the green surroundings.
The 50-hectare water body formed at the intersection of two mountains sustains the jungles around it that serves as a lung spaces for Bidar city.
Minister of State for Municipal Administration and district in-charge Eshwar Khandre is set to inaugurate the facility on Independence Day on August 15.
The State-run Jungle Lodges and Resorts will manage the facility. JLR operates the Black Buck Resort on the Vilaspur tank in the Khanapur forest range in Bhalki taluk, one of the only two resorts in north Karnataka.
This is the second attempt at introducing boating in the Paapnash lake. In 2009, a dingy and coracle operator from Maharashtra was contracted by the district administration to operate boats and take children and families around the lake. However, it had few takers and was closed by the district administration in 2012.
The lake was built by the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1890, to impound water from the perennial spring of Paapnash. The spring is counted among the seven perennial sources of water around Bidar city. Archaeologist Ghulam Yazdani’s book ‘Bidar its history and monuments’ documents the other six springs as the Noor Samnani spring, Farah Bag spring, Syed Ud Sadat spring, Chamkora spring, Shukla Teertha spring and the spring of Aliabad that is fed by the historic ‘karez’ or ‘surang bavi’, the medieval era subaltern water channel.
“Allowing boating in the lake is not an isolated project. It is part of the comprehensive development of the lake, conserving the forests surrounding it, and preserving the birds and animals that live there,” Anurag Tewari, Deputy Commissioner, said.
The Muzrai Department had been asked to release Rs. 2.5 crore for the development of the Paapnash temple and its surroundings, he said.
Chandrakanth Shetkar, chairman of Paapnash Mahadev Trust, a group of devotees that is engaged in the development of the temple, has welcomed the move. “We also need to protect the trees and the birds of the region”, he said.
