Environment

Consultation on Draft Waste Management Rules-2015. Pic courtest: ESG. The stakeholders consultation on Draft Waste Management Rules 2015 which was arranged by the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) in the city on Friday, was called off as the public who were present raised objection over Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) sponsoring the consultation programme. The programme witnessed heated arguments between the public, officials from MoEF and office-bearers of CII. Leo Saldanha from Environment Support Group (ESG) took exception to the CII sponsoring consultation of a draft proposed by the government. “As per the constitutional provisions, the programme should have…

Ganga Madappa, Staff Reporter and Community Manager at Citizen Matters, writes: Here's a side of the Ulsoor lake that not too many people notice. To the left of the kalyani at the lake, is a storm water drain that comes all the way from Richards Town. And along with rain water, it also carries an unimaginable amount of filth. Plastic, clothes, shoes, leaf litter etc make their way into the water. Workers clearing this filth claim to have found even pillows and suitcases...    This alone makes for a strong case for the city authorities to enforce waste segregation.  

May 10th 2015, was celebrated as Global Big Day, when, all over the world, birders tried to document as many species of birds as they could in 24 hours.  However, in India, we also  observed Endemic Bird Day on the same date. It’s not every country that can count a lot of endemic birds; we are lucky to have many of them! What are endemic birds? Like any other species of living creatures, endemics are those which cannot be found anywhere else in the world. (we take the south of Asia as the area.)  The tally in India, this year, was 567,…

Last Saturday, the city woke up to media reports that Bellandur Lake was on fire. Coincidentally, I happened to bike past the lake early morning on Sunday. I was on my way to Kaikondrahalli Lake where I wanted to spend some time, before biking to Puttenahalli Lake in J P Nagar. It was a big day for the trustees of the Puttenahalli Lake as treated water would be formally released into the water-body that day. It was a milestone in their years of struggle to rejuvenate the lake. In nine months, the lake would have a large amount of water,…

Pic: Aditi Surendra Bengaluru had many lakes 40 years ago. Today there are a very few lakes left today. Most of the lakes like Varthur lake, Sarakki lake, Banaswadi lake etc. have been or are being destroyed because a few greedy, inhuman, insensitive and socially irresponsible people cause wanton destruction and grab the land as real estate prices go sky high. The Varthur lake is being filled with sewage and other chemicals. Once the lake is dead, these people can say the land is unfit to be a lake and use it to construct buildings. This is done to circumvent…

PNLIT is delighted to announce that a long cherished dream of seeing our neighbourhood Puttenahalli Lake brim with water will soon be a reality! The Chairman, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board, Dr. Vaman Acharya will be formally inaugurating the pipeline to supply surplus treated water from the Sewage Treatment Plant of South City apartments (Arekere Mico Layout) to the Puttenahalli Lake tomorrow, Sunday 17th May at 10:00 a.m.  After the pipeline was laid, a trial to check for any leakages was done earlier this month, and it seems that all is fine. We are truly grateful to the South City Management Committee…

Are you a registered college or university student from India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, or Sri Lanka?  Do you have an innovative idea on how you will make your surroundings more environment-friendly?   If your answer to both these questions is 'yes', then, you are eligible to compete for an All-Expenses-Paid entry (facilitated by Earth Day Network) to the South Asia Youth Environment Conclave that will be held in September 2015. Your student card must be valid till July 31, 2015. Share your innovative ideas to make your campus and community environment-friendly. Clean it! Green it! Install renewable energies! Manage waste and save water!…

The fourth Kere Habba (Lake Festival) of 2015 is all set to take place at Chellakere Lake, HRBR Layout 2nd Block, (behind the Hennur Police Station) on Saturday, 23rd May 2015, 7:30 a.m. to 11.00 a.m. Kere Habba is an initiative of The Namma Bengaluru Foundation. Reports/information about the previous three Kere Habbas can be seen on these links - Kere Habba at Kaikondrahalli Lake, Puttenahalli Kere Habba, Madiwala Kere Habba.   The event is being organised to create an awareness of the beautiful 40-acre lake among the people residing in the area. According to people who are working to restore the…

PNLIT is happy to inform you that we are one of the winners of Earth Day Network-India's शहर GREEN करो - It’s Our Turn to Lead Contest. The result was announced today. The other winners are from Kozhikode, Mumbai, Srinagar, Varanasi and can be seen on the Earth Day Network-India Facebook page here. Details about PNLIT's entry can be seen on the Green Cities India Facebook page here. To commemorate the 45th anniversary of Earth Day (celebrated on 22nd April) this year, Earth Day Network-India, in February, had called for entries from 45 cities on how to make their cities "Swachh" and "Green". Each of…

SEZ project on Agara-Bellandur lake bed. Pic: Pavithra Ashok Kumar The National Green Tribunal (NGT) issued a historic judgment on May 7th, 2015, on the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project by Mantri Tech Zone Pvt Ltd and another project by Core Mind Software and Services Ltd. Both the projects were being constructed on the catchment area of Agara and Bellandur lakes. The highlight of the verdict was the Tribunal slapping a penalty of Rs 117.35 crore and Rs 22.5 crore to Mantri and Core Mind respectively, for commencing the project before obtaining Environmental Clearance. The Tribunal has also formed an…