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Palaeolithic Picnic

Should a millenia-old crater be developed for tourism or stay cocooned in safe anonymity?

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Palaeolithic Picnic
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FIFTY-SIX thousand years ago a mammoth meteor walloped the hottest region in Maharashtra, resulting in a 6-km-wide crater.

Today, tucked away in folklore and forgotten even by scientists, the Lonar crater is reverberating with a controversy that erupted after the state tourism department decided to develop a resort along the exquisite bowl-shaped landscape with its lake created millennia ago by the speeding visitor from outer space.

According to the Geological Survey of India (GSI), this is the "only hypervelocity natural impact crater in basaltic rock in the world". But amateur scientists claim that it is even larger than the better-known Arizona's Barringer crater, long developed into an international tourist spot.

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About 165 km northeast from the touristinfested Aurangabad, Lonar village is connected by a bumpy road, which later snakes up towards the spectacular rim of the crater where a few GSI resthouses sit prettily. Only a simple plaque explains the significance of the crater, whose crusty rim dips 100 m down over meteor-scalded slopes towards an azure-green lake whose still waters, deep with the shadows of its protective flanks, remain unrippled even by wind. The slopes are overgrown with foliage, which scientists say now houses an ecosystem unique to Lonar. Which is why they are against its development as a picnic spot.

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The government has tried to carve out a flight of rocky steps on the eastern part, which has a deep slit, the only one in the otherwise perfect round of the crater rim. This gash, according to scientists, marks the direction of the outer space projectile. As one tumbles down the rocks, rounded with age and erosion, the pea fowl that reside within the crater set up a din of shrill protest and their soulful clamour is echoed by other startled birds. The Hanuman langurs join in with their grumbling babble. But suddenly, when one reaches the green haven below the deep-orange umbrella of the flame of forest trees, there is absolute stillness, disturbed only by the sighing wind. The few mandirs, several centuries old, unkempt but still visited by villagers from all around the Buldhana district, add to mystique of the site.

Recently, the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) bought land on the crater rim to be developed into a resort, drawing howls of protest from the scientific community. Conservationists fear the delicate ecosystem would be affected by unplanned tourism and say before marauding picnickers are let loose on the crater, it should first be researched thoroughly.

The protest had limited effect, with the MTDC relinquishing its plan for a resort on the rim, but buying land 500 m away. Says Jayshree Mukherjee, MTDC joint managing director: "The corporation was very keen to develop the Lonar lake as a tourist spot. But we are quite clear that we shall not be party to any construction which will harm the fragile ecosystem of the crater We are now looking for alternate land nearby for the construction of a small tourist resort. There are so many beautiful ancient temples nearby worth visiting.

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Aurangabad-based MTDC official Surendra Surve adds that the corporation merely wanted to tap the city's tourism potential, which is already quite considerable due to the proximity of the famous Buddhist caves at Ajanta and Ellora. "In 1994 alone, 6.5 lakh tourists visited Aurangabad," he notes. "We hope to divert at least 30 to 40 per cent of the tourists to Lonar through integrated development, by building motorable roads and places to stay." He points out that the area boasts of such splendid temples like the Anwa and Daitya Sudan temple in Lonar village which has 184 sculptures.

AS for popular awareness, Surve is trying to start a Lonar website following several inquiries from interested tourists. Says he: "Even the smaller Arizona crater has been developed into an international tourist spot, while nobody outside of Aurangabad has even heard of the unique Lonar crater, said to be among the largest natural monuments in the world."

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But opinion is divided over encouraging tourism. Jagdish Gandhi of the Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Samiti had set off the volley of protest against MTDC'S plans, roping in other conservationists like Bombay Natural History director Naresh Chaturvedi and Nehru Planetarium director S.S. Rawal. They fear that unchecked development may consign Lonar to the fate of the lakes in Nainital, Kodaikanal, Ooty and Mount Abu which are "choking to death with plastic litter".

Their recommendations include: coredrilling operation in the catchment area to dig out bio-genetic fossils; collection of meteoric splinters through the same method; declaring the area a bird sanctuary since it has the largest concentration of pea fowl in the state; and that instead of developing the Lonar site, the MTDC Should focus on its existing facilities at Sindhraj Kheda, the birthplace of Shivaji Maharaj about 40 km away.

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"Ideally, there should be no development for 10 years," says Gandhi, "since the site was discovered only 20 years ago and the scientific fraternity should be allowed to do all the necessary research before tourism transforms the site forever" Basically, the issue boils down to the conflict between sharing a natural wonder and preventing it from being mauled by short term development plans. Dr J.V. Narlikar, of the inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, wrote this on the Lonar phenomenon in a leading newspaper: "A small museum depicting relevant information and collections of minerals and rocks, audio-visual shows, maps and booklets in a tourist-friendly visitor centre would go a long way towards popularising this geological heritage. But then alarm bells start ringing in my mind. Think of the food stalls springing up along the rim, the inevitable rubbish with indestructible plastic, pollution of the natural lake water and other after-effects of our indisciplined tourists. With our unplanned approach to tourism, perhaps it is better instead to let things be and let Lonar languish in safe anonymity.

Rawal agrees that a museum near the site would go a long way in explaining the amazing phenomenon that created this natural splendour. How else will visitors learn that the meteorite that drilled this hole in the earth's crust was 60 m across, whacking the region with the equivalent of a 6 megatonne bomb? Or recreate in the mind's eye the blast which must have been heard for hundreds of miles and which set the night sky aglow for nights.

But clearly, some compromise is required. For, even local villagers are against the influx of tourists, never mind the attendant income. "We don't want this area spoiled," says a villager. "If Lonarchi Devi (whose temple is in the crater's bowl) wanted it, would she have destroyed these steps each time the government built them?"

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