The Tripura High Court on Tuesday asked the state government to demolish at least two sides of cemented embankment of Kalyansagar, holy lake of Tripureswari temple, in Udaipur of South Tripura within next two weeks to save aquatic life. The division bench of High Court headed by Chief Justice Deepak Gupta and Justice Subhashis Talapatra asked the Chief Secretary to submit the status report of the lake and mentioning the steps taken to save flora and fauna as recommended by the scientists last year. The rare species of Bostami turtles housing in the lake has faced a serious crisis in breeding after cementing all four embankment of the lake a few years ago. The cementing has gravely affected the health of aquatic beings in the lake and resulted into deaths of many turtles and fishes over the year. The environmentalists of the state had opposed the plan of concretisation plan of the lake and other ponds of the state by the government at the beginning but it was overruled. Finally, a PIL was registered to save the turtles and fish in Kalyansagar and separate PIL against cementing the embankment of other ponds. Meanwhile, the state government had constituted an expert committee to review the situation. The committee also sought views of the scientists regarding aquatic life of Kalyansagar, which reiterated the recommendation of Wildlife Institute of Dehradun by Chief Wildlife Warden of Tripura A K Gupta in 2002. In 2014, the committee had recommended to demolish the cemented embankment and to facilitate a natural breeding ground for the water bodies. They also recommended steps to improve Lake environment, shifting of some fish from the lake and sufficient supply of food for the turtles and big fishes, besides restriction on human activities disturbing the aquatic life. However, after expert advised and coming under pressure from the environmentalists, the administration demolished a small portion of the cemented bank and created a conducive environment for turtles breeding. After this small step, turtles were found laying hundreds of eggs and death of fish was stopped, petitioner lawyer Indrajit Chakraborty informed the court. Tripura State Pollution Control Board had also suggested in 2006 to conduct aquatic census in Kalyansagar and shift some big fishes from the lake. (UNI)