Aaranji Poika is a landlocked natural lake formation above the

montane Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial ...

hills. It is located at

Kudappanakunnu Kudappanakunnu is the headquarters of Thiruvananthapuram district in the Indian state of Kerala. Thiruvananthapuram Doordarshan Kendra and the District collectors office are the major landmarks here. Vazhayila, Nalanchira, Muttada and Mannan ...

in the middle of

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

in the Indian state of

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, At one time, this lake reached 20 to 30 feet in depth and its

catchment area In human geography, a catchment area is the area from which a location, such as a city, service or institution, attracts a population that uses its services and economic opportunities. Catchment areas may be defined based on from where people are ...

had thick forest coverage, covering more than twenty acres of land. It was a source of perennial water flow that nourished the ponds, wells and streams of surrounding areas of the hill for 5 to 10 km, reaching the majority of Thiruvananthapuram.

Development

This water body is now reduced to small patches in its original bed due to the removal of the hill on the northern side to drain the lake. The lake is to be replaced with construction. The forest on two shores and the closed campuses of organizations that came during recent years on other two sides provided cover for this destruction. An unauthorized road was constructed on the northern side to bring in machinery and remove sand and earth. Artificial tanks are to be installed for processing

coir Coir (), also called coconut fibre, is a natural fibre extracted from the outer husk of coconut and used in products such as floor mats, doormats, brushes, and mattresses. Coir is the fibrous material found between the hard, internal shell an ...

with chemicals, for establishing a waste processing unit and a plastic shredding facility. Experts and newspaper reports opine that the deterioration of the health of population in an 8-mile radius resulting from this pollution will be faster and visible than at any other place. The dirt will move fast through earlier natural channels under earth that nourished the ponds, wells and streams of the region.

References

{{Tourism in Kerala Lakes of Kerala Geography of Thiruvananthapuram