Environment

BBMP Council and BBMP’s Forest Cell are at loggerheads once again. Apparent reason: Some trees were cut in Jayanagar 3rd and 4th blocks recently - allegedly to favour advertisers by improving the visibility of hoardings. And the Councillors think that Forest Cell chief is responsible for this. According to a report from The Hindu, the allegations were made by ruling party leader N Nagaraju, in the council meeting on September 29, 2013. BBMP Commissioner M Lakshminarayan had said show-cause notice would be served to the officials concerned. However, Brijesh Kumar, Chief Conservator of Forest and Head of the Forest Cell…

Solid Waste Management Round Table (SWLRT) is reviving their online SWM Green Map of Bangalore. They seek your help in this initiative. The Solid Waste Management Round Table is a group of like-minded organisations and highly skilled individuals who work to build awareness and promote the adoption of best practices in waste management at houses, apartment complexes, schools/colleges and public offices. The Group is currently updating the Green Map (see more at swmrt.com). Do you know of apartments / localities / commercial establishments that segregate waste? Please help us in developing our map and fill in the form below (click on the…

As a part of my work with SadaZero, I was to accompany the pourakarmikas on their Saturday dry-waste collection routine. I had to note down the houses who weren’t following the segregation protocol, and subsequently make an attempt to “convert” them, the latter being a herculean task as mindsets are extremely difficult to change. Sadazero is a voluntary, community organisation, aiming at 100% waste segregation, and making Sadashivanagar a model neighbourhood for the rest of Bengaluru, with whom I have intermittently worked with over the past three years. We rendezvoused at the collection point at 11 am and the drive…

Maintaining our Puttenahalli Lake is really so full of challenges which tax, vex and worry us at times but it also springs surprises that make our hearts sing! Today morning was one such great day. Yellappa, the fisherman contractor called to say that his men were on their way to the lake to plant the stakes, remove the new shoots of weeds, clean the water of stray plastic, etc. They had come at 5 a.m. and left the fibre glass coracle at the lake.   My friends and I swung into action. We had already bought the casuarina poles, three of…

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…