16th July 2015 – Save the date

PNLIT will be receiving the  शहर GREEN करो – It’s Our Turn to Lead Award at a special function at the Puttenahalli Lake premises on 16th July 2015, 11 a.m. onwards. The Chief Guest is Mrs. Karuna Singh, Country Director of Earth Day Network India, the organizers of the contest. 

The contest was held in 45 Indian cities to commemorate the 45th anniversary of Earth Day and six winners were announced in May. The Jury found merit in our entry on the pre-monsoon cleaning of the lake bed by volunteers on 28th March 2015, most of whom live in the neighbourhood. Sincere thanks to each one of them for the great vigour and enthusiasm with which they had picked trash from the lake bed. Pictures of the event are below. 

More than in the previous years, this cleaning drive was important because it may have been for the last time that we were able to do this. Puttenahalli Lake no longer needs to rely on the monsoon to fill up. From 17th May 2015, treated waste water from the Sewage Treatment Plant at South City has been flowing into the lake. Within a year, we hope our dream of seeing it filled to the optimum will become a reality and even more birds will flock to the lake. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
After their inspection of the STP, the Upa Lokayukta Hon’ble Justice Sri Subhash B. Adi and Dr. Vaman Acharya, Chairman, KSPCB visited the lake and met our volunteers. Their presence boosted our morale no end and made the day a memorable one for us. 
 
 
 
Our sincere thanks to KSPCB for giving the necessary permission and for sponsoring the lake cleaning drive. With infrastructural support from BBMP and donations from our well wishers, PNLIT has been maintaining the lake from May 2011. It is still a work in progress and we have a long way to go but awards like the one we will be proud to receive on 16th July encourage our endeavour. 
 
We look forward to sharing this moment with you. Do please attend. A line to puttenahalli.lake@gmail.com to confirm your attendance will be most welcome.
 
Best regards
Usha for the PNLIT Team 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Similar Story

BDA’s tree plantation drive faces accountability issues, not accounting errors

This record-breaking drive in Bengaluru has cleared out shrub ecosystems rich in biodiversity to plant saplings that may never thrive.

Fifteen lakh trees. A place in the Guinness Book of Records. The Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) has been on overdrive, promoting its new project to plant 15 lakh trees in spaces created in its new layouts. 240 acres have been earmarked across BDA’s faraway layouts. The saplings are to be planted across lake and nala buffer zones, parks and public spaces in new neighbourhoods like Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Layout, Banashankari 6th Stage, and Dr Shivarama Karanth Layout, according to the BDA Chairman N A Haris. While such massive tree plantation exercises are by themselves questionable, there is also the question of a…

Similar Story

Where are the flamingos? How Metro construction is devastating Chennai’s Pallikaranai Marsh   

In a report, environmentalists warn marsh blockages increase flood risk for South Chennai and call for urgent measures to avert ecological damage.

On a regular day in May, the calls of migratory waders and other shorebirds foraging in sprawling mudflats fill the air in the southern reaches of Chennai. May is the dry season for the Pallikaranai Marsh, when water levels naturally recede, exposing the critical feeding and breeding grounds that attract hundreds of bird species to this globally recognised urban wetland. But this year is different. The mudflats are gone. In their place is a stagnant expanse of water. This unusual water level during the dry season is not due to early rains. Indiscriminate construction within the marsh is blocking the…