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All eyes are on Kadalakere

Special Correspondent

Efforts are on to develop the lake into tourist spot

AWAITING FACELIFT: A view of Kadalakere, a monsoon lake, in Moodbidri.

MOODBIDRI: The "Jain Kashi" of Moodbidri has started looking at its tourism potential in a positive way ever since it was announced as being part of the four major tourism circuits in the budget.

Apart from the 1,000-pillar Jain basadi and 18 other basadis, there are many spots around the town that can be converted into tourist attractions. The people of Moodbidri have already set their eyes on the Kadalakere project and much effort has already gone into it development.

Kadalakere is one of the large monsoon lakes in Dakshina Kannada district that is surrounded by thick foliage and ancient structures. The people of Moodbidri have joined hands to develop the lake as a tourist attraction. They have formed a society under philanthropist L.C. Soans and MLA Abhayachandra Jain. They have set up boating facility and a "kambla" (slush track for buffalo racing) and named it the Rani Abbakka cultural village.

The Forest department has also taken up a drive to plant saplings of endemic species found in the Western Ghats, in areas surrounding the lake.

Manjunath Shetty, Assistant Conservator of Forest, Moodbidri, and secretary of the society, said that the district administration had been urged to reserve the 37 acres of land that included the lake, cultural village, forest and plantation areas around the lake for development of a tourist spot. Since it was a monsoon lake, steps should be taken to make it a perennial water body. This would entail creation of a lake bed that would hold water during summer too, Mr. Shetty said.

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