Bijapur Zilla Vikas Vedike, a forum which has been fighting for the restoration of the Ramling tank in the city, has urged the government to take control of the tank by evicting those who have been cultivating land on it for decades.
Peter Alexander, president of the forum, said that Ramling tank was the epitome of storage management and distribution system built by the Adil Shahi dynasty in the 17th century.
He said that the tank acted as a balancing reservoir to Bhutnal tank. Mr. Alexander said that Ramling tank comprised four check dams — Mohammed Sarovar, Khan Sarovar, Ibrahim Sarovar, and Toravi Sarovar — with aqueducts connecting the other tanks of the city.
The water was used extensively for drinking and agriculture purposes in those days, thus protecting the biodiversity without the aid of power, he said.
He noted that the tank had stood against vagaries of nature for generations. But over the years, owing to sheer negligence, the tank has turned into ruins and has fallen into the hands of land grabbers, he added.
In 1998, the Bijapur Development Authority proposed a township project on the tank saying that the the tankbed had gone dry. Quoting a Supreme Court judgment pronounced by Markandey Katju, judge, he said that the judgment clearly directed the State governments to prevent water bodies from being encroached upon, to restore them. Despite this order and several other orders related to protection of water bodies, the district administration is not serious about restoring the tank, he said.
He urged district in-charge Minister M.B. Patil to take steps to restore the tank.
