and dunes bordering Kalankar Lake often form strange shapes. Many fishing families call these dunes home. Their tiny huts, made of mud and tree leaves, remain at risk from floods. At the same time, it is the floods that would bring more water and fish into the lake. Fish is what the community needs for their economic survival.

Local journalist Faiz Chopan says, “Kalankar Lake is an attractive site for tourists, especially nature lovers. Many tourists from all over the country come here in the rainy season, often boating in the lake.”

Chopan adds, “There is a shortage of basic facilities for tourists as well as the villagers. Even the basic infrastructure is lacking. For tourists, the visit is an adventure. However, for the locals, roads are a basic necessity.”

Public transport, schools and healthcare facilities are also difficult to access for this fishing community. The villagers also struggle to access safe drinking water. They have dug small wells along the edge of the lake. If they dig too deep, the water turns brackish.

The lake is some 30 kilometres from Umerkot and barely five kilometres from Dhoronaro, but lack the facilities taken for granted in the nearby towns.

Kalankar is on the edge of the Nara Canal. Irrigated land is three or four kilometers away from the lake in the west. The lake, once spanned 4,000 acres, but has now shrunk to less than 1,000 acres.

Forty-year-old Advocate Munwer Ali Palli says, “The lake relies heavily on rainfall and Nara Canal water. Droughts and exploitation have severely impacted the water level. Encroachment by local communities has further limited its water supply. To conserve the lake, measures such as sustainable water management, protection from encroachment, eco-tourism promotion and regular conservation efforts are necessary.”

Palli adds that “it is a breathtaking natural oasis amidst sprawling sand dunes. As a potential tourist destination, it is inaccessible due to a lack of infrastructure. Government attention and investment are crucial to unlock its economic potential.

The fishing families await floods, hoping that the increased water flow will improve fishing opportunities and their incomes. 

During the colonial era, this lake was the main source of fish for Umerkot and Mirpurkhas. Fishing had a vital role in the local economy. The fish from Kalankar Lake was also sold in Jodhpur. At that time trains ran from Jodhpur to Karachi and Dhoronaro was a major railway station on this track.

Fifty-five-year-old Nawab Ali Rajar, chairman of the Town Committee of Dhoronaro, says, “In the colonial period, Khair Mohammad Mallah, a native of Kalankar, was a major trader of fish. He purchased fish from fishermen in Dhoronaro and sold it in Karachi and Jodhpur. Fish traders in the Indian desert mostly purchased fish from Khair Muhammad Mallah. At that time, a bogie on the train was reserved for fish. The railway station at Dhoronaro played a vital role in this trade.”

Haji Nawab adds, “Kalankar is not a single lake; it is a series of lakes. There are at least fourteen lakes identified by names like Modhakar, Kharor, Loon Khann, Ghurjee, Bando, Sunahro, Cherole, Dosrio and Bhorurr. Of course, these lakes are connected and share water with one another and the desert.

After independence, the lakes began shrinking because landlords upstream diverted much of the water for irrigation.

Thirty-eight-year-old social activist Mohammad Tayab Arisar says, “Kalankar Lake is the only sink for draining flood water from fertile lands and Nara Canal. However, the landlords have encroached on the drains so that the canal water no longer reaches it except during massive floods.

Arisar says the drain land on all these routes has been occupied and is under regular cultivation so that the canal water rarely reaches the lake. As a result the Kalankar Lake has been reduced to a brackish water pond.

Arisar adds, “Most fisher families have left the area. If the government takes strict action against the encroachments and clears the drains, the fishermen’s families can return to the area.”

Haji Nawab Rajar adds, “Encroachments on the drains started between 1965 and 1971. Since then the land has been in illegal possession.

Tayab Arisar adds, “In 2011, the floodwater rehabilitated the Kalankar. However, the encroachments were not removed entirely.

The Tourism Department has built three cottages for tourists in the area and deputed an official to supervise the boating facilities.”

The government as well as the local communities are interested in promoting Kalankar as a tourism destination. If Kalankar becomes an active tourist point, the fishermen’s families would benefit from the development. Tourism will also boost other people’s earnings.

Meanwhile, local fishermen are trying to find new ways of earning a living as fishing is no longer sufficient to cover even their daily expenses.

The fishermen see themselves as the children of the lake, says fifty-eight-year-old Habibullah Mallah. “A flood is God’s grace for us and our mother, the lake. Without fresh water the lake will die and we will be forced to migrate from here. When the lake was full of sweet water, more than five hundred families lived here. Many of those have migrated to different locations.

He says, “some of the families still live in Dhoronaro, Khipro, Farash, Tiyoon Mail and Bakar Lake areas.”

The fishing families await floods, hoping that the increased freshwater flow will improve fishing opportunities and boost their incomes.

The writer is a freelance journalist