Sakoli is 100 kms from Nagpur. In Bhandara district on the national highway that goes east towards Chhattisgarh, Sakoli has this unique landscape. From the highway that snakes right through it, an elongated hillock offers a wonderful backdrop. Surrounded by lakes all over, the place itself also has three lakes within its boundaries. One could count at least 20-odd lakes in the horizon from atop the hillock that offered a 360 degrees view.
Pink and orange of Cotton
Silk (Bombax Ceiba) lining the highway in spring, rugged browns in peak
summer, paddy plantations’ greens in monsoon and mostly half empty yellow-grey
farm plots interspersed with a variety of winter weeds and grasses. These are my
prominent memories even when I left the place more than two decades ago.
The scenic setting has not changed much but what has is
the proliferation of anthropogenic activities in and around Sakoli. To start
with, population has increased, and in that, the number of pucca houses has
increased exponentially. The commercial activity has increased. Sakoli has been
a tehsil place for long but till about 2000s, it was a sleepy village that would
witness almost empty streets after 7 pm. Things changed and how !!
During my recent trip, I found something that hurt me no
end. Of the three lakes that I mentioned, one was ensconced between the hillock
and a small, rocky outcrop. Hidden from the prying eyes, this lake was a serene
place.
But the ‘development’ genie reached this quiet village too.
Right next to this lake, right on its catchment, was built a resort with half a
dozen cement-concrete buildings. Can never understand what prompts the authorities
to give permissions for such activities and destroy the catchments of the lakes!!
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