Lakes

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…

In a city of vanishing lakes, PNLIT is a small team of ordinary citizens who campaigned successfully to rejuvenate Puttenahalli Lake in J.P. Nagar and has now become its official caretakers. PNLIT's goals are to recharge the water table, indirectly providing water for an increasingly parched locality and to transform the lake into a secure bird habitat though in the middle of an urban jungle. Within two years of restoration, over 200 tree saplings have been planted and over 50 bird species spotted in and around the lake. PNLIT meets expenses from voluntary donations, mostly from residents in the area.…

Brief background: Spark the Rise is a platform built by Mahindra "for ordinary people to take charge of India's future". Anyone with a plan could submit it to http://www.sparktherise.com/ to get volunteers, advice or donations. From August 2011 to March 2012, 1346 projects were posted on the site. For six months, Mahindra awarded monthly grants of Rs 4 lakh each, to 8 outstanding projects. "PNLIT - Nurturing Puttenahalli Lake back to its pristine glory" was one such awardee, and one of the 18 projects in the Grand Finale, where additional grants were at stake.   20th April 2012 was an eventful day for the Spark…

The Karnataka High Court cancelled the lease of Agara lake in HSR Layout given to Biota Natural Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd on February 29, 2012. Biota had filed a petition against the termination of lease of Agara lake by Lake Development (LDA) in 2009. Following the High Court judgment, the lake has been handed back to the LDA, Bangalore. The under-maintained Agara lake, adjacent to HSR Layout, off the outer ring road. Pic: Anisha NairThe judgement from high courtBiota contested LDA's termination of its contract in its petition. Biota claims that they could not take up any development work on…

One cool morning in February 2012, I drove up across town to Hesaraghatta Lake. As we approached the embankment, my excitement rose and I ran up the steps. They had told me it was big. What I had not realized was just how big this lake was. I could not see the edges on the far side. All 3000 acres of it used to brim with water, fed by the Arkavati River. That day, it was dry. Bone dry. For the first time in seven years there was no water in Hesaraghatta Lake. And, unfortunately, this was no exaggeration. Hesarghatta…

PNLIT is happy to announce "PNLIT Greenscraps" an introduction to nature journaling which will teach children how to observe, sketch and write about what they see in the natural world around them. Too often we do not notice that little ladybird sitting on a pale green leaf or the cobweb in an early morning glistening with dew drops. These are the small pleasures that uplift our mood and give meaning to our day. These are invaluable lessons in appreciating natural wonders which stay with us as we grow older. Ms. Sangeetha Kadur and Ms. Shilpashree who designed the Greenscraps workshops…

It is not only the number of birds in our lake that is growing but also our team, slowly but steadily! We are happy to induct two teams of volunteers PNLIT Mitra and PNLIT Young Rangers. As of now we have three supporters in the Mitra (Friends) category and four Young Rangers who make up for their lack in years with youthful enthusiasm. To those of you who had suggested names for the PNLIT juniors - "PNLIT Young Rangers" was the name that the child members chose for themselves. With these new volunteers to assist us, we shall soon be…

Bangalore-based Environment Support Group was given the 2012 UN-Water "Water for Life" Best Practices Award for it unprecedented legal work on protection of Bangalore's lakes. ESG's trustee and coordinator Leo Saldanha received the award at a ceremony held at the headquarters of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation, at Rome on 22nd March, World Water Day. As some readers may already know, ESG has been on a major initiative for several years to protect Bangalore's lakes. Its litigation work has led to direct supervision of local government protection efforts by the Karnataka High Court itself. Leo Saldanha (right), Coordinator, ESG,…

The Byrasandra lake, situated in Jayanagar, which was once almost sold, is now set to be rejuvenated. The lake area was under a land dispute as it was allegedly sold by Indian Overseas Bank in an auction for a sum of Rs.7.60 crores. Citizen Matters's 29 Jul 2010 article has a detailed report on the various developments of the lake. Pic: Deepthi M S With the local people's initiative, the lake is now moving towards development. The fencing work at Byrasandra lake has started from 17 February.The lake development project was inaugurated by Ananth Kumar, MP, BJP. It will be…

We'd taken our birder friend from Kerala to the Kaikondanahalli Lake. We were greeted by the spot-billed ducks and purple moorhens. And at twilight a big flock of Lesser Whistling Ducks took off (about 200); the sight and sound of a big whistling flock is quite a sensation. It was fairly dark when we reached the swamp area. "Sandpipers" and a friend pointed to activity in the swamp. "Sandpipers" quicky turned to "ringed plover? Painted Snipe!". We could hardly believe our luck. We did try our luck at shooting them too (Snipers, we are not!). We saw at least 3…