Lakes

Residents and citizen groups of Mahadevapura assembly constituency will stage a protest on Friday 9.30 am, at the Marathahalli Bridge bus stop. The #MahdevapuraDemands protest is called against elected representatives of the constituency for failing to deliver on the promises they had made on restoring civic amenities and making the area liveable. Resignation of elected representatives is one of the main demands of the protestors. The representatives here are Mahadevapura MLA Aravind Limbavali, Bengaluru Central MP P C Mohan, BBMP corporators A C Hari Prasad (Hoodi), B N Nithish Purushotham (Garudachar Palya), S Muniswamy (Kadugodi), S Uday Kumar (Hagadur), Shwetha…

We often hear about encroachments and solid waste sounding the death knell for water bodies in Chennai. Villivakkam Lake is no exception; it shares the same plight as any other water body in the city. However, it is set to change. Corporation officials say that the transformation of this 36.5 acre lake will be revolutionary -- replete with state-of-the art recreation facilities such as walkway, gym, children's play area, library, food and play courts, open air theatre and a multipurpose lawn. Greater Chennai Corporation will adopt Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC)’s natural process of treating wastewater and use it for…

563 new dengue cases in four days The number of dengue cases in the city shot up by 12 percent over just four days, this week. From the start of 2019, till Sunday, 4443 cases had been recorded in the city. But by Wednesday, the number rose to 5006, said officials. That is, 563 new cases were registered in just four days. BBMP East zone is worst affected, with 1937 cases since January. Bengaluru South zone comes next with 786 cases, followed by Mahadevapura with 760 cases. Dasarahalli Zone has recorded the lowest number, with 116 cases. Among wards, Hoysalanagar…

Driving down from Hebbal to Tin Factory, as you cross the Kasturi Nagar flyover, you may occasionally chance upon a lone crane or two, circling over a water body on the left. It may create a pretty picture, but this was not the case until sometime ago. Situated along the Old Madras road and stretching up to the Tin Factory bus stop is the Benniganahalli lake. Not quite visible from the main road, many citizens had become aware of the lake only when it started frothing a few years back due to the untreated sewage flowing into it from nearby…

It was a show of creativity and colours in Whitefield on Saturday morning. As the sun and clouds played hide-and-seek, scores of children made a beeline for Nallurhalli lake to use their imagination and depict their natural surroundings. 'My Halli, My Lake', an initiative of Nallurhalli Rising, brought together more than 160 children, aged between three and sixteen years. Many students from Poorna Prajna International School were part of the enthusiastic crowd. The citizens’ group Whitefield Rising was the community partner. Oracle India Ltd provided the materials for painting - drawing sheets, pencils, erasers, water colours, crayons and pads. For…

This is butterfly season; you must have noticed these beautiful creatures fluttering past you, in the gardens and even on the roads, everywhere in the city. If you observe them carefully, you will find many moments of drama and tension! One lesser-known fact about butterflies is that they hatch out of the pupa (it's called eclosing) as fully mature adults; something I had to think about and accept, being only used to a progression of living beings from infanthood onwards to adulthood. Because of this fact, sometimes, male butterflies try to mate with a female as soon as she's emerged…

“Bade mushkil se Eid mana paye,” says Mohammad Irshad, 53, of Shehjenabad locality in Bhopal’s old city area. “Pani hi nahin ghar mein. Mehmanon ki kya khatirdari kar paatey (we observed Eid with great difficulty. There is no water in the home. How could we entertain guests)? Bhopal, the “city of lakes”, is reeling under an unprecedented water shortage over the past 20 odd days, with the old city area, housing 43 per cent of the capital’s 21 lakh population, hit particularly hard. The entire supply of 30 MGD (million gallons per day) to these mainly low-income residents is from…

A committee appointed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) will hold its first public meeting on the rejuvenation of Bellandur and Varthur lakes, on June 21st. The committee, appointed to oversee lake rejuvenation, made the decision at its routine meeting on Tuesday, June 11th. Tuesday's meeting was chaired by committee member Dr U V Singh. Another committee member Prof T V Ramachandra, KSPCB (Karnataka State Pollution Control Board) Member Secretary Manoj Kumar, BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board) Chairman Tushar Girinath, officials from various departments including the Urban Development Department (UDD), attended the meeting. Citizen representatives Jagadish Reddy and…

On June 5th, World Environment Day, my handbook ‘Our Agara Lake’ was released. As a lake activist, the handbook is my attempt to share the story of Agara lake’s revival. I believe that our story can inspire citizens across Bengaluru to come together and work for the many more lakes that need to be revived. Agara lake’s story is about a collaborative relationship between citizens and the government. A supportive government, responsive Lake Development Authority (LDA) and the pro-active citizen group ALPMS (Agara Lake Protection and Management Society) worked together to revive the lake. The lake, spread over 200 acres…

When the Tamil Nadu government proposed to restore Avadi’s Paruthipattu Lake in 2016, the suburban residents rejoiced. The Public Works Department (PWD)-owned lake, spanning 87.03 acres was to be restored in a sustainable manner, at an expenditure of Rs 28 crore. Unfortunately, the work has been a curse, leading to untreated sewage water from 3,500 houses around flowing straight into the water body. The plan was to convert the Lake into an eco-park, much like the one at Chetpet, with boating facilities, a children’s park and walking track. It was expected that the water body would spring back to life…