On June 8, 2014, the Chennai Trekking Club (CTC) in association with The Hindu newspaper organized the 5th year edition of the Chennai Coastal Cleanup and the 1st edition of India Clean Sweep – a major awareness campaign on environmental conservation. The location chosen was Yelahanka’s Puttenahalli Lake in north Bangalore. More details on the planning of the event here.

The main objective of this initiative was to create more awareness among the general public against the use of plastics and reduction of our garbage footprint through segregation, re-cyling and reuse and keep our lakes clean too. The cleanup was inaugurated by the Yelahanka constituency MLA, Mr Vishwanath. 

With a good audience, the chance to spread the word about the environment and lakes was not lost. Dr Subbu Subramanya, ornithologist from GKVK spoke on bio-diversity and bird habitat pertaining to lakes. Dr K.S Sangunni and Mr Padmanaban briefly outlined the activities of Citizens Forum Yelahanka New Town (CFYNT) and Yelahanka Puttenahalli Lake and Bird Conservation Trust (YPLBCT), towards restoring the lake and how they plan to move forward. Mr Balaji Mohan, a CTC volunteer talked about the activities of CTC and why they initiated India Clean Sweep.

More than 160 volunteers from CFYNT,  Prayukti, YPLBCT, Bangalore Trekking Club, Cognizant, CTC and others from the public, collected and segregated 112 large bags of garbage – 6 of bottles, 96 of plastics and 10 of other miscellaneous waste, amounting to approximately 1 tonne, from the lake area. The collected garbage was sent to BBMP for further sorting and recycling. 

The challenge now, for the watchdogs of Yelahanka Puttenahalli Lake, is to sustain the cleanliness by adopting measures that will ensure that the efforts of this one day are not lost. 

Pics: Balaji Mohan
Thanks to Commander CR Babu (Retd) for the information provided. 

More pictures can be seen here (flikr) and here (googleplus).