Environment

Participate in a workshop on Ward Committee Roles and Responsibilities for a Greener, Cleaner, Safer, Water secure and Healthy Bengaluru. Date: Thursday 22nd May 2014 Time: 10.00 am – 4.00 pm Venue: Environment Support Group – Training Centre, 1575, Intermediate Ring Road, Banashankari 2nd Stage, Bangalore 560070 Why this workshop: Bengaluru is increasingly becoming an unaffordable and difficult city to live in.  Never ending traffic congestion, expensive public transportation, garbage lying everywhere, no water in taps, borewells running dry, lakes getting polluted (even disappearing overnight), heat, noise and air pollution everywhere, rampant tree felling has become a feature of every neighbourhood.  Women, children and senior citizens…

KCDC all set to process waste with new machines. Pic: Nikita Malusare Dysfunctional machinery and long approval procedures are among the many reasons why the Karnataka Compost Development Corporation (KCDC) facility  has been emitting a foul odour for months now, much to the discomfort of residents in the neighbourhood. Residents living in the areas surrounding KCDC cried foul against the unbearable odour emanating from the plant that has huge mounds of old waste. For several years, KCDC received close to 1000 tons of waste daily which was beyond its processing capacity of 300 tons per day. However, in 2008, because…

With the sun's heat accelerating the rate of evaporation, the water level has fallen sharply in our Puttenahalli Lake and there are no more than four or five pools of water left. We have been consoling ourselves with the thought that this is still far, far better than this time last year when we had literally a few buckets of water in the entire lake. Fish had died in scores then and the lake bed was hard and with cracks and crevices. Encouraged by the monsoon filling the lake somewhat, in September we'd released 3000 fingerlings and the birds returned once again. …

Rose ringed parakeet The Rose Ringed Parakeet is an occasional visitor to our backyard to eat seeds from the Rajamalli tree. They perch on one claw, use the beak and the other claw to zip open the pods and eat the seeds with a precision that would be difficult for us humans to match. These birds are very quiet when they perch but we often see them squawk noisily as they streak across the sky in groups of 4 to 6 birds. Contrary to popular terminology - these are not parrots. A good place to see parrots now is the Rio…

  Pic Courtesy: Girish S V   The Pied Kingfisher used to be a frequent visitor to the Haralur Lake before the lake was drained for renovation. While most kingfishers are predominantly blue in color, this one is black and white (referred to as Pied) and it has a very unique characteristic of hovering over the water before diving vertically into the water. Obviously this requires clear and unpolluted water for the Pied Kingfisher to make a catch. They nest in a hole excavated in a vertical mud bank about five feet above water. We can still see a few of…

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered an interim stay on the mega-project coming up on the land between Bellandur and Agara lakes, in Bengaluru. This was in response to a petition filed by The Forward Foundation, Bangalore, Praja RAAG, Bangalore and Bangalore Environment Trust. The stay order issued on April 16, 2014, states that “the Tribunal is satisfied that there is a substantial question connected to and concerned with environment which has got to be enquired into.” It observes that “the construction activities are carried on in an extent of 13,50,455 m2 in an area of 80 acres in…

To celebrate Earth Day (that is observed all over the world on 22nd April), PNLIT is happy to host an event called Dance at Dusk in association with the Snehadhara Foundation. The programme is being held on a Saturday to enable adults to participate along with their children.  Date: 26th April 2014 (Saturday) Time: 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Place: Puttenahalli Lake, at the gazebo     What is Dance at Dusk? Here's a brief note on the event from Snehadhara: Dance at Dusk We at Snehadhara believe that movements have inner meanings and purposes along with their outer expressive…

Low cost community leaf litter composting pilot project ready to take off in Malleshwaram. Pic: Shree D N Bangalore’s first low cost community leaf litter composting unit was inaugurated in Malleshwaram on April 24, 2014. Set in a roadside park on 8th Main Road before Yashwanthpur Circle, the project is a replication of an already-running model conceptualised by Ravi Kaushik, a resident of Malleshwaram, in his own frontyard. The project aims to compost the leaves that fall in a particular season in Bangalore. Come winter, the roads of Malleshwaram that have a good tree cover are filled with variety of…

Broken commodes decorated along the compound wall that separates Railway land from BBMP land and footpath... coconut fronds thrown casually everywhere... the parked vehicles meant for carrying the dead, a garbage pickup point which never seems to be empty... the ground attacked continuously by garbage burning and stagnant water and turned black... add to this the unbearable stench of dead and decaying animals that makes you run for life, and you know you are in the backyard of Malleshwaram — on 11th main, Railway parallel road. Unused Railway land has become a dump filled with weeds. The unkempt garbage-filled land…