Famous lakes on verge of extinction
Syarpu lake of Banfikot, Rukum one of the major tourism hubs in the mid-west of the country drawing hundreds of home and foreign visitors alike every year, is on the verge of extinction, thanks to the lack of proper conservation measures.
File photo
The lake originally sprawled in an area of 2.6 square kilometres earlier is shrinking in size day-by-day owing to the almost annual evens of floods, landslides and soil erosion.
Earlier having lost its major chunk of 900 square meters in a flooding about eight years ago that turned the area into a mere piles of sands, it is facing threat to its own existence in want for the proper monitoring from the government of the steps taken for the conservation coupled with the locals’ neglect towards their asset, The Himalayan Times daily quoted Gopal KC, chairperson of Sisne Syarpu Concern Society Centre as saying. Ban on the unwanted human activities like deforestation, fire and cattle grazing and dumping gargabe in the lake area is most to conserve it, he said.
Meanwhile, regarding the conservation of the lake local development officer Bharat Kumar Sharma promised the VDC will take steps now for the advertisement and development of the lake.
“Though no initiatives were taken for its conservation in the past, now we will act in that direction as we are going to allocate Rs 5 lakh for its development this year,” said Sharma.
Syarpu lake can be reached after a two-hour drive and about four hours trek from the district headquarters Khalanga.
