Articles by Arathi Manay Yajaman

Today, March 20, is World Sparrow Day. During my childhood in Bangalore in the 1970s-80s, sparrows were a part of our everyday life, much the way rock pigeons just merge with the high-rise landscape today.  Scores of sparrows would be all over the backyard, chirping on the pomegranate and guava trees. Unafraid of humans, the sparrows hopped around on the ground whenever mom cleaned the rice, in expectation of falling grains. (Yes, the rice used to have stones that needed to be removed, and chaff that would blow away in the wind as the rice was tossed up and down on…

One of the major challenges encountered in the maintenance of Puttenahalli Lake, JP Nagar is water weeds. Some months ago, the blog post "Grappling with Water Weeds" described the experiences of PNLIT in managing the weeds at Puttenahalli Lake, along with thoughts for the future. Read the full post here.     Weed control at Puttenahalli Lake is generally done by manual removal of weeds, though Biological control has been tried as well. Weed removal, if not done regularly, is expensive. Regular weed removal needs a regular labour force, which is difficult to get. Labourers and contractors are not interested in…

More than 500 residents of Yelahanka spent a few hours on Sunday 9th March 2014, learning how to grow vegetables and fruits at home, and in the process, manage their kitchen waste too. This was at the gardening and waste management training, organised by Yelahanka United Environment Association (YUVA) at Allasandra Lake park in Yelahanka New Town. The programme was conducted by the Department of Horticulture, Government of Karnataka under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana scheme. Dr K. Ramakrishnappa, Additional Director of Horticulture, Govt of Karnataka spoke about the benefits of kitchen and terrace gardening. In this age of pesticide-driven agriculture, he said that many of the…

Press release from Save Bangalore Lakes Trust The Save Bangalore Lakes Trust (SBLT) along with residents of the Horamavu area (organised as the Save Horamavu Lakes group) held a walkathon on the morning of Sunday, February 16, 2014, to spread awareness about the status of lakes in the Horamavu area. The two lakes in Horamavu, i.e., Horamavu Agara Keré (50.34 acres) and Horamavu Keré (37.14 acres) are both under the jurisdiction of the BDA. Over the years both have suffered from massive encroachments, destruction of the raja kaluves flowing into and from them, dumping of waste and other debris, and…

Spot fixing - a useful way to spend February 15, 2014 Saturday morning. Details below.  A few years ago, some of us from PNLIT spent a few hours in cleaning up a small garbage spot on Puttenahalli Road. The spot was bothering many, but all just walked past... no one was coming forward to do anything about it. Read more here. 'The Ugly Indian' group has been doing this kind of spot-fixing all over Bangalore for several years now. Read more here and here. They've been doing whatever they can, whenever they can, but as their resources are totally disproportional to…

Report by Jesse Jonathan, United Way of Bengaluru On February 9, a beautiful Sunday morning, more than 500 children came together at their local Uttarahalli Lake, on a mission to raise awareness on the dire state of the lakes in the city and prompt action. United Way of Bengaluru (UWBe), under its “Wake the Lake” campaign along with the Uttarahalli Magekere Walkers’ Association engaged children of various ages from different schools by conducting a painting competition based on the theme Water. The children also participated in a lot of fun activities based on the theme. Education sessions were conducted informing…

The second walkathon in the Connect-the-Lake series by Save Bangalore Lakes Trust is scheduled to be held in Horamavu in northern Bangalore. (The first walkathon was held at Halanayakanahalli Lake in Jan 2014.)   In July 2013, this blog carried a post on the status of the two lakes of Horamavu, Jayanthinagar (Horamavu) Kere and Horamavu Agara Kere, which can be read here. The Save Horamavu Lakes Group has been working rectify the problems faced by the lakes and get them restored.    The present problems include:* Fencing broken in many places* Massive encroachment of the lake areas   - A recent…

Under its Wake the Lake campaign, United Way of Bengaluru (UWBe) works on a number of lakes in Bangalore, involving key stakeholders such as BBMP, LDA, BDA, residents of the area, corporate volunteers and corporate funding, to revive and maintain these lakes. One of the beneficiary lakes is Uttarahalli Lake on Uttarahalli Road in South Bangalore (Ward 184). The lake has faced many problems such as sewage, a dysfunctional STP, weeds, garbage dumping. Apart from corporate support, UWBe has mobilized the local community to join hands with it. With the routine day-to-day maintenance work at lake regularly monitored, the lake…

In December 2013, Justice Subhash Adi, the second Upa Lokayukta (appointed in Mar 2013), caught the public eye after he gave the BBMP and BWSSB three months to clear encroachments and sewage inflows at various lakes in Bangalore. Justice S.B. Majage, the first Upa Lokayukta has also been giving attention to lakes. After his inspection of Yelahanka’s Allalasandra Lake in October 2013, he set the agenda for BBMP and BWSSB to rectify the problems faced by the lake. To check the progress for himself, he followed it up with a visit to the lake on February 2, 2014, in the…

In Feb 2011, The Hindu newspaper carried a news article “Lakes that no one can visit”, based on ATREE’s Mahadevapura Constituency Lakes Report . One of the lakes mentioned in the article was the 4.64 hectare Devarabisanahalli Lake, near Intel office and Adarsh Palm Retreat apartments in Bellandur Ward (south-east Bangalore). ATREE’s report described the lake as “Shrinking water body. Currently completely dry lake, but this is a small lake and can be easily recharged with rain water precipitation if proper dredging is undertaken.” It was also observed that the lake was surrounded by private property with no public access,…