Jnanapith awardee legacy in shame Balavana water crisis deepens

 Puttur: Despite the public outcry in the case of starving the Dr. Shivarama Karanth Balavana in Puttur, the district authorities have ignored the cause and stood their ground with flimsy reasons for diverting the water to a nearby Swimming pool. The new borewell that was dug belonged to Dr. Shivarama Karanth Balavana, as the funds allocated for the new borewell were from the account of the Balavana.

As a result, the Balavana, which is a repository of several plant, animal and avian species, has completely gone dry and has become a sad place to visit. With the Summer holidays just begun families, schoolchildren, and researchers are thronging to the Balavana and are saddened to see the poor state of the Balavana.

According to Dr. Amrut Malla a local conservationist and admirer of late Dr.Shivarama Karanth the overhead water tank that supplied water to all facilities inside the Balavana has gone dry and there is hardly any water for keeping the facilities functioning normally.

“The Balvana trust had anticipated a water problem would affect the Balavana six months back after the monsoon failed in 2023. The Trust decided to bore one more borewell within the Balavana premises exclusively for the facilities inside the Balavana. The water from the new borewell has been diverted exclusively to the Swimming pool and the overhead water tank is still dry. The local municipality has made some half-hearted effort to give water to the facilities of Balavana but that is not even 5 percent of the requirement of the facilities”. Dr. Amrut Malla alleged.

The researchers of the Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru have found out that Balavana which spread over 5.6 acres of land can be a lung space for Puttur town with scope for developing it into an eco-tourism centre in addition to already existing cultural centre. The research team headed by Divyasusuma had submitted a paper at the ‘Lake 2016 -the 10th biennial lake conference on Ecologically sensitive regions of the Western Ghats’ held in Moodbidri in 2016, have pointed out that there are 83 species of angiosperms, (trees and shrubs that produces flowers and seeds) 2 species of gymnosperms (conifers and cycads) 71 species of butterflies, 52 species of birds, and 13 species of animals. The researchers had found the Balavana for a fit case of eco-conservation.

The elders of the town find the scant respect shown by the bureaucrats towards the legacy of Dr. K Shivrama Karanth unbecoming of a civil society and want the water supply restored to its fullest capacity. We have no objection for the swimming pool to function normally but the water availability for sustaining the greenery, and fauna of the facility has to be given priority over commercial activity in the premises of the Balavana. “These are all the species chosen specially by the Jnanapith award winner Dr. Kota Shivarama Karanth with a specific reason of sustaining the local flora and fauna for the posterity and his vision must be protected” says Dr. Amrut Malla.

The Balavana area is spread over 5.9 acres of land that has rich vegetation. The area has a house of Dr Karanth, a printing press, a theatre, a library, and also houses the Jnanpith Award of Dr Shivaram Karanth.