A Lake Recedes, Memories Surface

As the water level in Shivsagar lake — the backwaters of Koyna dam in Satara — drops, the past resurfaces. Literally.

Koyna, built between 1954 and 1964, had submerged over 100 villages, displacing thousands. Today, as the 115 sq km reservoir dries up due to a delayed monsoon and relentless hydropower use, the ruins of that forgotten world re-emerge — crumbling temples, abandoned marketplaces, silent homes.

Families return to places like Old Bamnoli, not as tourists but as inheritors of a loss incurred for the development of Maharashtra. At Tapola, the emptiness of the lake has stilled boats and dimmed a thriving tourism economy, even as new infrastructure projects — like the proposed Rs 175-crore cable bridge connecting Ahir — promise connectivity and progress.

Along the lake’s shrinking edges, the irony is stark. Villages, including deputy CM Eknath Shinde’s hometown Dare Tamb, now face acute water scarcity. Plans for check dams signal attempts to adapt.

— All photos courtesy Sachin Shindkar and Nagesh Chavan