kaikondrahalli lake

Kaikondrahalli Kere Habba entered its 6th edition this year. The Kere Habba has typically been a day long series of events from sunrise to sunset. It celebrates the gorgeous Kaikondrahalli Lake that is spread over 48 acres, 23 guntas on Sarjapur Road. Once a dumpyard, this lake has been a bio-diverse ecosystem for the last few years. The lake's rejuvenation was taken up by BBMP few years back with the help and efforts of local citizens. The lake has become home to myriad species of resident and migratory birds and other creatures.  To celebrate the lake, this year, a variety…

The fifth edition of the habba is the most talked about community event in the neighbourhood of ORR-Sarjapur Road. Kere Habba or Lake Festival is an annual day long conservation-focused celebration of the gorgeous Kaikondrahalli lake, planned this time on February 17. 2019. It is an amalgamation of music, theatre, fitness, art, design and fun - all talking the same idiom of ecology and environment. Some of the most prominent names in the world of conservation, ecology and science conduct pro bono sessions to raise funds to support and maintain this lake. Their sessions are jam-packed and draw huge crowds. One of…

The new year 2019 promises to be a landmark year for Mahadevpura Parisara Samrakshane Mattu Abhivrudhi Samiti (MAPSAS) in lake rejuvenation and sustenance. The efforts to rejuvenate Kaikondrahalli Lake and Lower Ambalipura - the first lakes MAPSAS got involved with - started a decade ago in 2009. From a motley group of citizens who came together to envision a participatory and progressive way of managing our water resources in the form of lakes, some of us made a Trust called MAPSAS (Mahadevpura Parisara Samrakshane Mattu Abhivrudhi Samiti). We have taken more and more lakes in the neighborhood under our ambit.…

Kaikondrahalli lake has seen a few ups and downs of late. This is a comprehensive update on the various works in and around Kaikondrahalli Lake. Sewage diversion pipeline work: Last year (May 2016), copious amount of sewage started flowing in from the south-east end of the lake. Despite efforts from the lake team and continuous complaints to the zonal office, this could not be stopped. Early this year, BBMP lake department undertook a sewage diversion work to divert the sewage through a pipeline through the lake. The diverted sewage will drain into the culvert in front of Purva Sunshine apartment…

On January 8th 2017, over 4500 people from across Bengaluru visited Kaikondrahalli Lake to connect with their friends, community and nature. Lake festival, or Kere Habba, is a completely volunteer-organised event aimed at raising awareness, increasing community participation and fostering an appreciation of lakes in Bengaluru. Kaikondrahalli celebrated its third lake festival on January 8th, 2017. A bird living in the Kakondrahalli lake premises. Pic: Shree D N Over a hundred students from Renuka school situated on the banks of the lake, involved themselves in many activities; they organised a Halli Games session, to teach visitors how to play traditional…

On 8th January 2017, various events will be hosted at Kaikondrahalli Lake during its annual ‘Kere Habba’. The habba, which is in its third year, aims to be bigger, better and more impactful in raising awareness, increasing community participation and fostering an appreciation of lakes in Bengaluru. It is an ideal way for people, especially young children to connect to nature and learn. Sessions include a story walk by Vikram Sridhar, a performance storyteller, a bird walk and a spider walk. For the artistically inclined, there is a flower rangoli activity, photography workshop and a drawing workshop themed around nature by illustrator Archana Sreenivasan. Deepa Mohan, a columnist with Citizen Matters, will take a session on writing on nature that…

Sewage and plastic waste has been steadily pouring into Kaikondrahalli lake for the last few months from the eastern side of the lake. On the evening of 12th May 2016, a private landowner from that side breached the lake bund with JCB and drew a channel to empty sewage from his land directly into the lake. Despite best efforts from the BBMP Lakes dept led by Mr Satish (Chief Engineer), Mr Jagannath (Executive Engineer) & Ms Shilpa (Asst Engineer), and the surrounding community volunteers, gallons of accumulating and fresh raw sewage have been entering the lake for past 4 months.Since…

On the evening on May 12th, raw sewage gushed in from the eastern inlet for nearly 3 hours into Kaikondrahalli lake. With help from BBMP labourers provided by BBMP lakes Engineer Shilpa, and with many of the lake visitors and volunteers staying back at night to oversee the work, we could partially block the inlet. The blocking at the inlet was reinforced in the morning, but sewage continues to trickle in. With a JCB borrowed from Bren Construction, we tried to block the main source of the sewage inflow, but had to re-open it soon as the land owner and…

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Would we choke off our lungs to “develop” ourselves? Certainly, in Bengaluru, we seem to be doing so. One lung is our green spaces, and the other is our lakes. Both are under threat and have shrunk so much in the past few decades that the quality of life in our city has been seriously impaired. Let’s leave trees and greenery aside for a minute, and concentrate on our lakes (or lack of them). From about 1,790 + lakes, we seem to be down to a hundred, and the greed of real estate sharks (fuelled by the very real need…