Abstract

Strategic environmental assessment of Pushkar Lake, Ajmer (Rajasthan) with special reference to infiltration problem

Author(s): Sunil Hotchandani, Ashit Dutta, Yogesh Jatav, Ajay Vardhan

Lakes are the most fertile, diverse, productive and interactive ecosystems in the world. The present work was conducted on the Pushkar Lake in the historic holy city of Pushkar,Ajmer. This Lake comes under the category of sacred lakes and is unique in terms of religious and ecological significance. This paper focuses on Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) of Pushkar Lake with special reference to infiltration problemwhich adversely affects its religious significance. This paper also considered the positive and negative effects of man-made canal constructed by Government of Rajasthan under National Lake Conservation Plan (NLCP) in order to make the water level of Pushkar Lake at the desired level. SEA proved to be an efficient tool to study all relevant parameters of Pushkar Lake and suggested various alternatives in order to make its religious significance forever.