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Lakes that kill

Think twice before planning a trip to the beautiful lakes in the Aravali region of Faridabad. The tainted past warns you of the possibility that a trip to these lakes might be your last one.
There are around a dozen lakes on the Suraj Kund road in Faridabad, which is located a few kilometers away from Delhi-Faridabad border.

The lakes are said to have been formed after years of illegal mining in the Aravalis. Mining was done to such depths that it had touched the groundwater. Thus, the dug up area have turned into lakes. Besides this, rain water also gets collected in these lakes, which increases its depth.

Earlier this year, five students drowned in these lakes. To find out reasons behind the increasing number of deaths, Millennium Post drove down to the spot.

These lakes are very beautiful. The surrounding area is so peaceful that one just doesn’t want to return to the ‘monotony’ of  city life. These  lakes are not very popular among general folk, may be because it’s not a celebrated tourist point.

In an internet age, it just takes a minute to receive information about a place. The young generation, especially adventure sports enthusiasts browse for adventurous places in the Delhi-NCR region.

The road that connects these lakes itself is beautiful to drive on, as it is built on the Aravalis. Enter Suraj Kund road and you won’t believe that you are just kilometers away from the city. It feels like a mini hill station.

Around a dozen lakes are spread across a few kilometers. There are three lakes near the famous Manav Rachna University.

These are bigger in size as compared to other lakes. Last month, an anchor-cum-RJ, Abhay, drowned in one of these lakes when he went on a picnic with his friends.

‘These days hardly four to five persons visit the lake daily,’ the concerned authority said. He further added that summer is the best season for visitors, as the lakes attract tourist.

Visitors avoid coming during monsoons because the area has become more slippery and dangerous. However, post-monsoon these lakes become a point of attraction.
Pre-monsoon the water is very deep. Usually, the water level of a river or se
a is low at the corner and gets deeper in the middle. As these lakes are formed due to illegal mining, the corner is also deep.

The person who gets into the water to bathe has no clue about its depth. Also, the rocks in these lakes are covered with algae that further adds to the problem and visitors unknowingly fall into the water.

Apart from deaths caused due to drowning, several other mysterious deaths were also reported from the area. It was learnt that various manholes are situated in the Aravalis that were dug up years ago. Later to avoid notice of the concerned authorities, these manholes were covered with sand.

During investigation into these mysterious deaths, police officials came to know about such covered manholes.

Several precautionary signboards are put up that warn visitors about manholes and deep waters. However visitors often ignore such warning signs.

In March, three students from a local engineering college drowned in one of the lakes near Faridabad’s Sirohi village.

A group of seven first-year BTech students of BS Anangpuria College of Engineering on the Pali-Sohna road arrived at the artificial lake after their classes. One of them entered the water for a bath and found the water too deep and cried for help. To save him, his other two friends also jumped into the water, but could not rescue him and they too drowned in the process.
There are only two ways to avert more casualties in the area. The best option is to avoid visiting such a risky place despite the fact that the area is beautiful.

The other way is that the concerned authorities must ban bathing in the lake.
Also, security should be beefed up around these lakes to keep a check on tourists.

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