PYAAS FOUNDATION brings Macche lake to life

“Looking at the lake , I am feeling like my childhood days have come back” Mr  Patil  a 70 year old farmer from Macche said with tears in his eyes.

The Macche lake recently rejuvenated is now brimming with water.The pristine blue water filling ten acres of the lake today attracting crowds from everywhere including eager to swim kids especially the poor ones who have got a free swimming poll with fresh clean water.

PYAAS FOUNDATION  in association with AKP Ferrocast Belagavi completed its third lake this year at Macche this year, this is the biggest lake to be rejuvenated by a NGO without any government finance in the entire district. The village was the first one to receive water through tankers from PYAAS FOUNDATION,  in May 2016.

Macche is the second largest gram panchayat in the state and is dry despite having three lakes due to silt deposition. Ram Bhandare and Parag Bhandare the famous industrialist  and philanthropist  father and son out of concern for the village came forward and contributed the entire expenditure to rejuvenate the Macche lake.

Plans were drawn and village lake project was undertaken with help of local government officers and Department of minor irrigation.

   The Macche lake is unique, it has an area of nearly ten acres and was famous for the huge number of fish the lake produced , it was because of this that Macche got its name.The lake had its embankment broken due to builders taking soil from it and had tons of silt deposited in it .

The work started at Macche in the summer, right after the general election was over. Since in was late summer PYAAS FOUNDATION had to put double the efforts to complete in time. Each day truck loads were taken out from the lake and used to construct embankments, slowly but surely the lake started shaping up.

All the silt taken out was used to reconstruct the lake itself. A path was built all round the lake, something that was lost to encroachment. The embankments are now looking brand new and the entire lake was dug upto removing almost all the silt.

The minor irrigation department was kept in the loup and work was carried out as per their directions. Parallel meetings were held by PYAAS and AKP in the village to create awareness and the project received support from MLA Abhay Patil, locals, gram panchayat, yuvak mandals, library committee and the elected representatives.

Soon the project was complete and this is needless to say  the biggest lake rejuvenated by any private body in the entire district. PYAAS also found a live stream of water in the lake. The lake is now ready as the first phase of the project is over.

PYAAS and AKP ferrocast  have vowed to work on the lake in phase two and put it on the map as a model lake.

The lake has started storing water and is now almost full. It is attracting lot of people in search of a picnic spot. The lake will go a big way in storing water and providing for the various water needs of Macche.