Natural lotus pond at Domail new destination for tourists

Vikram Sharma

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Tribune News Service

Domail, October 1

A lotus pond that has come up naturally at Domail, 32 km from Jammu, has become a tourist attraction as people going for obeisance to Shri Mata Vaishno Devi shrine take a short break to visit the spot.

The road to Katra from Jammu that enters from Domail takes a left curve where an old temple of Sai Baba exists. Beside the temple was a small depression of land filled with rainwater from where the caretaker of the temple, Anant Ram Bhagat, 72, used to take water for cleansing the temple.

“There was no upkeep of the pond. We used to take water from the source to clean the temple and water some plantations grown around it. Besides, as prayers and havans were regularly held on the temple premises, the remains were thrown into the pond,” said Bhagat.

The exercise went on for many years until Bhagat’s grandson, Gaurav Bhagat, 24, found some offshoots rising from the pond.

“We immediately stopped throwing waste in the pond and since last year, these offshoots developed into broad leaves and stalks with their tops forming into holed cup-like structures,” said Gaurav Bhagat, adding that with the help of his father, a local contractor and his grandfather, he embanked the pond with stones and gave it a square shape.

Since the past three months, lotus flowers developed and the whole pond was covered with leaves, stalks and flowers giving it an inviting look.

“Many tourists in their private vehicles going to Katra take a small break to photograph the pond and its surface covered with flowers, leaves and stalks,” said Gaurav Bhagat, who said he had approached the Forest Department at Nagrota for funds to develop the pond but nothing had been done so far.