Environment

Some of the happenings about Bangalore's lakes this past month. Click the links to read the full stories and reports. Ganesha immersions  The days of Ganesh Chaturthi are usually high tension for lake lovers in Bangalore. A couple of weeks before the festival there were reports of how BBMP was gearing up, given that 3 lakh idols were expected to be immersed. There was a lot of publicity to persuade people to get eco-Ganeshas and encourage immersions in mobile tanks. Worshippers though seem to have had other ideas to please God. While there is no accurate record of the actual number of Ganeshas sold or…

Who doesn’t love Eric Carle’s super illustrated bug book “The Very Hungry Caterpillar?” You haven’t read it? Shame! Then go read it now! It was my initiation into a wonderful world of insects, and caterpillars in particular.  When my little one first showed interest in bugs, I figured this book would be a fun way to introduce insects to him in a non-threatening way. There was no stopping him after. Stop! Don’t click over to the next post! This is not a book review about Carle’s book. This post is about the delightful world of insects that abound around us.…

The residents of Puttenahalli in J P Nagar 7th phase are worried about the increasing noise pollution in the vicinity and the lethargic attitude of Karnataka State Pollution Control Board officials. They are also living in fear, not willing to come out of their safe closets and complain openly. A resident who doesn’t want to be named says that repeated complaints made to the board, forced KSPCB officials to conduct a spot inspection and issue a show cause notice to the erring Pallavi Engineering company. The resident, through his email to Citizen Matters, says that nothing has changed since then…

All the herbivorous animals have the chance of contracting Foot and Mouth disease, and need to be vaccinated. Pic: Shree D N Here is a news for those who want to visit Bannerghatta Biological Park (BBP). Reason: Herbivorous Safari will be closed for at least next seven weeks as Foot and Mouth Disease has broken out. On Monday, September 23, 2013, four animals - three Spotted Deer and one Neelgai were reported to have died due to this. The Park officials spotted the symptoms in the animals on Sunday and thus as a precautionary measure cancelled all safaris from Sunday…

Extracts from an email from Vishnupriya Hathwar, who frequents Puttenahalli Lake   --------- Just wanted to share somethings that many of you may have already observed [ or maybe not].. here goes !!   Due to the wonderful rains, the lake has filled up quite a bit, leaving only smaller islands for the birds. In this, the most common birds- the Common Coots have chicks that are almost grown to adult size [ only the plumage is still lacking]. Spotted a pair of Coucals - appears that they too have a young one!! Spotted a small Coucal with FRESH plumage flying across the lake.I have personally…

This year seems to have been a slightly eco-friendly Ganapati festival, claimed various press releases from BBMP and Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB). But the statistics tells a different tale. The drive of the KSPCB and the BBMP to influence people to celebrate an eco-friendly festival seems to have done little in curtailing the pollution levels in the lakes. KSPCB and BBMP had publicised the importance of eco-Ganesha in a large scale this year, through various media including Facebook, advertisements and campaigns. This year around 1.2 lakh Gahesha idols were sold in Bangalore city - this is 40% of…

Construction activities continue to encroach the drain coming from Madivala valley that leads to Bellandur lake. Pic: Nikita Malusare There seems to be no end to controversies surrounding the Bellandur SEZ project opposite Agara Lake near Koramangala, Bengaluru. Karnataka’s Lake Development Authority (LDA), which conducted an inspection recently following media reports, has asked KIADB to stop construction activities on Bellandur lake catchment area by Manipal ETA Infotech Ltd. The LDA is a governmental body working for the regeneration and conservation of lakes in and around Bangalore city within BMRDA jurisdiction. Based on the report of the inspection held on June…

It was August 25th, 2013. The last council meeting under the mayorship of Venkateshmurthy was underway. The media representatives coming out from the council meeting were distributed a press kit. The press release with no sign of any authorities highlighted the continued payment by BBMP to works tendered by its Forest Cell, which can never be scrutinised and ascertained if they were really done in the way they should be. The documents indicated that BBMP Forest Cell continues to make payments against 2923 job codes assigned four years ago. In addition to this, Forest Cell Chief Conservator Brijesh Kumar is…

Dhiraj Gaurh was astounded by a very large creature, which, he felt, might be a Hummingbird. Here are the excellent shots he got, of the creature drinking nectar from Aster flowers: He posted the link to the photos in the egroup of the Bird Watchers’ Field Club (contrary to its name, this is a group of enthusiasts of all forms of wildlife and nature.) Several people (Rachna Shetty, Gautam Krishnan, Vijay Krishna, Ravi Vaidyanathan, Anubhav Vanamamalai, Nandhu Sridhar)  promptly responded to him,  identifying this, not as a Hummingbird (we do not have them in India), but as the Hummingbird Hawk…

Water inside Sai Gardens premises, in Kadugodi near Whitefield. The above picture isn't a scene from any flooded village, it's a scene straight from Kadugodi - Whitefield, Bangalore. Residents of Sai Garden apartments, in Kadugodi near Whitefield, were in for a shocking scene on Friday. Continuous rains had filled the nearby canal, and the water level around the apartment complex started rising slowly. Water flooded into the apartment's premises and entered the ground floor of the flats, thereby forcing residents to vacate. The water level outside the compound walls of the residential complex rose to a height of 10 feet.…