ELURU'S VANISHING TANKS
* Motheyvari Cheruvu: Once the watering hole for the Mothey Zamindars' elephants, the tank has now shrunk to 4.23 acres. It is now being filled up with boulders. * Gajjalavari Cheruvu: A part of its land was taken over for the Buddha park four years ago. Now it's being leveled, perhaps for a shopping complex. * Venkanna Cheruvu: The century-old seven-acre tank is being filled with gravel. The plan is to shrink it to two acres to make way for a 'greenbelt and some restrooms. |
ELURU: Sixty km from Amaravati, where a grand new capital is being planned on the riverfront of the Krishna, this town, once famous for its water bodies, is in the throes of giving them all up to what is called development. In full view of the people, earth movers are dumping gravel, sand and rubble on dry tankbeds, taking them over inch by inch.
Preparatory to this extinction by choking, the names of the town's famous tanks are being obliterated from the official maps. Just about 10 remain, but they too are caught in the choke hold of development.
The official records still make mention of nine water bodies: Perayya Cheruvu, Lakshmaiah Tank, Gajjalavari Cheruvu (Buddha Park), Washermen's Tank, Venkanna Cheruvu, Motheyvari Tank, Pathebada Cheruvu (Now Brindavan Park), Mutla Tank and Kotha Cheruvu.
However, the name of Vitala Seshayya Naidu Cheruvu, once the biggest tank in the town, has gone missing.
At least three major water bodies in and around this district HQ of West Godavari are thick in the throes of being erased from the map. The names of temple tanks in Powerpet and other areas have already gone missing from the files. One tank which once belonged to the Powerpeta Siva temple has already been occupied and even pattas (title deeds) have been issued to encroachers.
The Lakshmaiah Cheruvu used to occupy 12 acres in the One Town area, but the tank has been filled in and carved up. Some 300 encroachers have been sanctioned pattas and many houses have come up there. Three other historic tanks -- Motheyvari Cheruvu, Venkanna Cheruvu and Gajjalavari Cheruvu (now Buddha Park) -- are destined for the same fate.
There is no land filling programme at Motheyvari Cheruvu. We are only trying to identify encroachments. -Y Sai Srikanth, Municipal Commissioner
Eluru's canals and rivers are fast drying up and now officials are paying no heed to the vanishing tanks in the city. -Rajesh Kumar, resident of Pathebad |
Motheyvari Cheruvu in Philhousepet near Kaikaluru road has historic importance. It was dug by the Mothey zamindars as a watering hole for their elephants. Later, the tank with six ghats on six sides was given over on lease for pisciculture. Recently, an ex-officio member of the Eluru Municipal Corporation, an MLA, asked the bureaucracy to shift the fish market in One Town area to the tank bed and the corporation submitted a resolution to the collector to convert the 4.23-acre cheruvu into revenue land to facilitate this. But the proposal was shelved owing to vehement opposition. But nevertheless, officials are filling up the cheruvu with boulders.
The Gajjalavari Cheruvu, where a Buddha park came up four years ago, is also being targeted by officials and politicians. Public representatives and the local MLA have assured people who lost their shops to encroachment removal along the Krishna Canal recently that they would be rehabilitated there. The officials are now trying to construct a shopping complex around the Buddha Park bund by leveling a part of the tank. The century-old Venkanna Cheruvu too is gradually shrinking. Officials have started filling it up with gravel. It has been decided to confine the seven-acre tank to two acres and create a 'greenbelt' in the rest of the land. The tank that catered to the needs of people in One Town for over decades has now silted up. Officials say restrooms will be built there.
Asked for his reaction, municipal commissioner Y Sai Srikanth said, "No landfilling has been taken up at Venkanna Cheruvu. Only the bund has been strengthened for future beatification programmes. We are planning a boating facility at Venkanna Cheruvu. There is no proposal for construction of shops there."