The Mirage that was supposed to be the Balsamand lake || A lake in Jodhpur being destroyed by thoughtless quarrying
When you search Google for Balasamand Lake, the results reveal a promising place with ghats and chhatris and even a palace and gardens on the shore. However, we were not able to reach the place so we cannot vouch for it. The reason why we were not able to reach it also interesting.
The road from Mandore to the lake are used by trucks headed to the sandstone quarries. They are in a very bad shape and are actually very risky at places. Most of the roads are mud roads and there are sheer drops into the quarries below. So we decided we should turn back midway. That too was a problem and we caused a minor truck jam while reversing our vehicle.
The injudicious quarrying is actually having a detrimental effect on the lake's catchment area. These lakes around Jodhpur are fragile and ecological balance around these need to be preserved. the Internet says that Balsamand Lake is about 5 km from Jodhpur and is a popular picnic spot. It was built by Balak Rao Pratihar in 1159 AD. It was designed as a water reservoir to provide water to Mandore. The lake has a length of one kilometre, breadth of 50 metres, and a depth of 15 metres. However, we couldn't see it.
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