Natural freshwater lake in Delhi, India
Bhalswa Horseshoe Lake, or Bhalswa Jheel, is a lake in northwest Delhi, India. It was originally shaped like a horseshoe. However, over the years half of it was used as a landfill area. Now a low income housing colony, an extension of the nearby town of Bhalswa Jahangir Puri, Mukundpur, has been built on it, destroying the once excellent wetland ecosystem and wildlife habitat of the region which once played host to scores of local and migratory wildlife species, especially waterbirds, including waterfowl, storks and cranes. This horseshoe lake was originally formed when the nearby River Yamuna left behind one of its meandering loops here when it changed course over the years and is now channelled through more defined and fortified embankments and dykes to defend modern Delhi from floods. Bhalswa lake but it's half area under Mukundpur colony
Destruction of the lake
On the west side of the lake on the landfill-reclaimed land stands a housing colony. On the east side is a plantation of a few acres of acacia, babool and keekar trees, offering some habitat to local remnant wildlife.
Current status
Though the lake and its surrounding fields were originally an excellent wetland ecosystem which supported a rich wildlife habitat, the Delhi government of late has converted the lake and started promoting it as a water games/sports facility.[1]
Other horseshoe lakes in India
There is another horseshoe-shaped lake, Ansupa Lake near Saranda hills, situated 100 km west of cuttack district in Orissa, having a length of 16 km.
See also
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