Environment

Illustration: Suneeva Saldanha  A recent development in the Horticulture department managing Cubbon Park provoked me to write this article. The Horticulture Department has been approached by BSNL to make Cubbon Park and Lalbagh Wi-Fi enabled (Source: TOI). As part of the Central Government’s ‘Digital India’ initiative, funds will be supplied from the Centre to setup Wi-Fi hot-spots in cities with a population of over a million. "These two sylvan spaces, bang in the middle of an intensely busy city, are best protected from the trappings of modernity. Urban Parks world over, be they in Kyoto, Bonn, New York or Vancouver,…

Do you enjoy making motion pictures? Here is a chance to get rewarded for it too. The International Rainwater Harvesting Alliance (IRHA) is happy to launch its annual competition The Raindrops Geneva Award 2015. The Raindrops Geneva Award is a worldwide art competition by IRHA since 2007, to increase global awareness of rainwater harvesting. Held every other year, the competition chooses a different art form each time, such as posters, photos, videos. This year IRHA invites artists for submissions for “The Best Video on the Advantages of Rainwater Harvesting: Raindrops Geneva Award 2015”. Entries should be based on one of three different themes and the best artistic works,…

Message from MAPSAS trustee, Priya Ramasubban Kaikondarahalli Lake stands today as a shining example of lake restoration in Bangalore. It started back in 2008 with local citizens and the custodian government body, BBMP, working closely to rejuvenate the lake in an environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive way. Once restored, the BBMP encouraged active citizens to take up day-to-day maintenance, which resulted in the formation of Mahadevpura Parisara Samrakshane Mattu Abhivrudhi Samiti(MAPSAS), a non-profit trust which started off with maintaining 2 lakes, KK Halli and Lower Ambalipura (which was also restored around the same time). Today, MAPSAS has been entrusted by…

PNLIT volunteers and ceremony attendees pose for a group photo. Usha Rajagopalan (in pink) holds the award. Pic: Holly Thorpe Around 30 volunteers with the Puttenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust (PNLIT) spent the morning of March 28th hauling bags of trash out of Puttenahalli Lake. On April 22nd, Earth Day, they were announced as one of six winners for improving their neighbourhood. The competition, called शहर GREEN करो - It’s Our Turn to Lead, was hosted by Earth Day Network-India (EDN-India). The EDN Country Director for India, Karuna Singh, was present to hand out the award. She praised the initiative…

Residents in the Puttenahalli Lake vicinity beware!  One of the residents of the neighbourhood had a horrifying experience, as explained in this email message, received from a credible source. "One of our residents, on her way back after dropping off her children's lunch boxes at the Brigade School at around 12 noon, was offered some puliyogare as "prasad" by a decently dressed woman. She immediately ate it and walked back towards her flat at Brigade Millennium. When she got close to the Woodrose Club, she started feeling woozy, as if she had no control over her limbs, etc. She happened…

Mestripalya lake, waiting to be filled with water. Pic: Holly Thorpe After decades of delays and legal complications, the finish line for Mestripalya Lake is in sight—but just out of reach. The lake, located in Koramangala 3rd Block in East Bengaluru, is ready to receive water, but until the project is transferred from the BDA to the BBMP, it cannot be filled. The BDA has done all of the structural work visible today, including fencing the lake. Before development, the area was overgrown with weeds, and a receptacle for waste. Now, the lake has been dug out to receive water,…

Tasked with creating an app that addresses a ‘community problem or issue’, five Bengaluru girls won $10,000 (approximately Rs 6.4 lakh) at Technovation, an international technology entrepreneurship competition, to further develop their app designed to keep waste off the streets of Bengaluru. Team Pentechan. From left to right: Mahima, Sanjana, Swasthi, Anupama, Navyasree. Pic: Holly Thorpe Anupama N, Sanjana Vasanth, Mahima Mehendale, Navyasree B and Swasthi P Rao, all of 14 years and in Class 9 at New Horizon Public School, won the prize money when they took first place in the competition in San Francisco. They competed in the…

Last weekend's Bangalore Cycle Day was held at the historical 350-acre Yelahanka Lake, in Yelahanka (near  Kogilu Cross international airport road). Yelahanka Lake  Organized by Yelahanka United Environment Association (YUVA) in partnership with Directorate of Urban Land Transport,  Government of Karnataka & BCOS on 5th July 2015, this Sunday morning event was supported by The Times of India, BBMP and Bangalore Police.     Around 3000 cyclists, including school and college students participated in the event. Yelahanka MLA Mr SR Vishwanath joined the cyclists to complete the entire stretch of 6.5 km. Free cycle rentals were organised.   Mr Venkate Gowda, a…

PNLIT will be receiving the  शहर GREEN करो - It's Our Turn to Lead Award at a special function at the Puttenahalli Lake premises on 16th July 2015, 11 a.m. onwards. The Chief Guest is Mrs. Karuna Singh, Country Director of Earth Day Network India, the organizers of the contest.  The contest was held in 45 Indian cities to commemorate the 45th anniversary of Earth Day and six winners were announced in May. The Jury found merit in our entry on the pre-monsoon cleaning of the lake bed by volunteers on 28th March 2015, most of whom live in the neighbourhood. Sincere thanks to each one of them…

Last week, Madhurima, who regularly tracks the birds at Puttenahalli Lake had lots of "good news" for us. "We had a babies' day out at the lake. First the Coots brought one of their babies out. A Brahminy Kite spotted it and dived towards it, but unsuccessfully. So no casualties. Later the Coots brought out both their babies. Then the White-throated Kingfishers brought out two juveniles and the Wagtails also presented,  what looked like a juvenile.  And then, an Ashy Prinia brought out a tiny little Ashy Prinia! It was so tiny that we could not see it with our…