FATEHSAGAR LAKE

Fatehsagar Lake

Fateh Sagar Lake is a very beautiful lake and is situated in the city of Udaipur in the state of Rajasthan. It is an artificial lake named after a superior king Maharana Fateh Singh of Udaipur and Mewar, constructed north-west of Udaipur, to the north of Lake Pichola in the 1680s.

It is one of the four lakes in the Udaipur city; the other three being: the Lake Pichola (within the Udaipur city), Udai Sagar Lake, 13 kilometres (8.1 meter) to the east of Udaipur, and Dhebar Lake or Jaisamand Lake, 52 km (32 meter) south east of Udaipur.

 

SOME MORE ABOUT FATEHSAGAR

Within the constrain of the Fatah Sagar Lake, there are three small islands; the largest of these is the Nehru Park (4 km2 (1.5 sq meter) area), which is well liked places by the tourists, the second island (0.06 km2 or 15 acres area) houses a public park with an impressive water-jet fountain, and the third island (1.2 km2 area) is the address for the Udaipur Solar Observatory (USO). You can go to Nehru park by the inboard motor boats. The blue waters of the lake and the background of the green mountains has given the soubriquet “the second Kashmir” to Udaipur .

Udaipur Lake Conservation Society’s announce indicate that the lake supports and sustains ground water recharge, drinking water, agricultural use, industrial use, ecological water accessibelity and provides employment to 60% population of Udaipur.

The runoff emerging from environmental hills drains into this lake. The lake is pear-shaped and is circled by the Aravalli hills on three sides with a straight gravity stone masonry dam on the eastern side which has a spillway to discharge flood flows during the monsoon season.

Three arterys, one from Pichola Lake, the other from Madar Lake and the third one from Badi Lake lead to the Fateh Sagar Lake. There are three inlet channels, which feed the lake and an overflow section on the eastern side in the masonry dam of 800 mi (2,600 ft) length. Monsoon rains are the main origin of all water to the lake. Initially constructed as an irrigation scheme, it is now the second main source of drinking water to the city of Udaipur and the irrigation supplies have been discontinued. A canal from the Rang Sagar Lake joins to the Fateh Sagar Lake. A gate controlled canal further future Fateh Sagar Lake with Lake Pichhola. The Northern eastern embankment is known by three names viz., the Pal, the Drive, or Connaught Bund.
During drought conditions, when the rainfall is meager, water storage in the lake is inadequate to meet the needs. To stop the loss of water due to evaporation, cetyl alcohol is sprayed over the lake surface.

The first effort to desilt the lake and upgrade its water quantity was undertaken by local citizen groups and environmental conservation organizations. The shallow part of the lake was desilted through voluntary workers in the early 1970s. Udaipur Lake Conservation Society, a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) set up in 1992, has single handedly carried out studies of the problems of the lakes of Udaipur and has been continuously pressurizing the government agencies to take up several rehabilitation schemes on the lakes of Udaipur, including Fatah Sagar Lake, some of which are reported to have been acted upon by the Rajasthan Government. The restoration works pursued are Limnological Conservation Work, Ecological Conservation Works, Hyacinth removal , lining of unlined canal from Moti Magri Hill to Fatah Sagar Lake, making of sewage lines, institutional development in the form of creating Special Reason Vehicles (SPV) for the lakes, etc. It has appealed in the Rajasthan High Court, through Public Interest Litigations, seeking court’s intervention on several problems concerning restoration of small lakes.