Meeting held to ignite Agara lake restoration

Saving Agara lake was the agenda for the evening. A brainstorming session facilitated by Citizen Matters was held at Mantri Sarovar apartments, HSR Layout on 15th May.

Vijayan Menon, member of Citizens’ Action Forum and a Koramangala resident, Brigadier R S Murthy of HSR RWA Federation, RTI activist Chandra Shekhar, Muralidhar Rao, member of  Koramangala Initiative, Ramesh Sivaram of Forward150 (Bellandur RWA), Ganesan M of Save Agara group, and Citizen Matters co-founder Meera K, gathered in the evening.

With the High Court cancelling Agara lake’s PPP contract recently, the LDA is open to citizens involvement to save the lake. The residents agreed that the 42-acres lake would be a big challenge to revive. Menon pointed out that without healthy water bodies to revive the groundwater table, future of neighbourhoods would be bleak indeed.

Agara lake. Pic: Anisha Nair

Among the key points discussed, the first step was to get a complete survey of the lake done and delineate its boundary. Participants discussed examples such as Mestripalya and Puttenahalli and how to begin with Agara. Sivaram has been closely involved with the revival of the Kaikondrahalli Lake and shared those experiences as well

Menon talked about their public interest litigation to save Meistripalya lake in Koramangala. He stressed on the importance of citizens’ involvement in saving lakes. Sivaram proposed an Agara lake cleaning campaign to bring the lake into focus and involve nearby residents.

People interested in saving Agara lake can get in touch with Ganesan M at 9845738133.

Comments:

  1. Monisha Belliappa says:

    Hi I’ve bin a resident of jakkasandra for d past 20yrs.I rememeber abt 10yrs bak d lake extending on the other side f d road as well(nxt to lemon grass)n now i see construction wrk going on..was jus wondering if it was legal.
    M sorry if I am posing d wron question t d wron ppl.M jus finished wit my Masters course n m very much interested in conservation related wrks.. so if der s ny do lemme no..
    thank u

  2. Anisha Nair says:

    Monisha, If you are speaking of the whole stretch of the land further down lemon grass that is marked by blue boundaries, that is the Mantri project for building mall and residential apartments.

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