Revive Gottigere Lake Says Mr S B Majage, Upa Lokayukta.

Continuing from where I left my last blog, It again showed the determination of people, nature enthusiast and health conscious people to brave the hot sun, sacrificing a working day for a noble cause.

Noble cause to revive the 5 century old lake, that is also a feeder lake to Hulimavu and Madivala lake. I Am talking about Gottigere Lake, situated along the side of Banerghatta Road right next to the NICE Road.

VSAVE group is growing everyday with youngsters and elderly people joining hands towards.

The lake was flourishing as late as 2006 after which it started drying up. Some local people for their vested interest started releasing the sewage water in the lake. Some builders started dumping debries of their building waste into the lake. The fencing was cut open and a road was made to help in doing this illegal job.

After 10 month of effort, meeting with Upa Lokayukta, we started seeing some work happening around the lake. Fencing was redone, cleaning around the lake was carried out by BBMP. This was just a start when Mr Majage decided to visit the lake that we have been showing him on paper and Google map for 10 months. His motive was also to take an account of the work that has been carried out so far.

Visit was expected to be a short one with him talking to the locals, reviewing  the situation and passing some stern orders to the BBMP and BDA officials. Well all that happened, except that he not only stayed for over 1.5 hours but also took a long walk along the lake.

Issues Identified
1) Encroachment has happened along the lake
2) Sewage released in the lake
3) Garbage dumping at one end of the lake
4) Some houses inside lake are there. Titles of the occupants are in question
5) Illegal borewells are present
6) Movement of water tanker is noted

Timelines Set by Upa Lokayukta
1) Clearing of Debries and garbage to start immediately and finish by 15 April 2015
2) BWSSB to assess the sewage issue and comeup with a blue print of how to improve that
3) Based on BWSSB report, sewage line will be completely stopped from entering the lake by 15 May 2015

Last but not the least, there was a great participants in students of adjoining government school, MSB Educational institute and Radcliff school. Teachers and students were present holding the placards..."We wont let it pollute... We wont let it dry"

News Coverage
Deccan Herald:                 http://bit.ly/1wYNe8X
The New Indian Express: http://bit.ly/1wYN3dG
The Hindu:                       http://bit.ly/1ByvdwG

Gottigere Lake -- Common goals bring people from different walks of life together

Saturday 21st Feb 2015, just another day in most of the people life, but not for few volunteers. For them it wasn't a rest day but a test day. They had braved the laziness and "why should I do it" attitude and gathered near Gottigere Lake. Mission, to support the "Save Gottigere Lake" movement.

People from different walks of life, religion, colour, language took the task of cleaning the lake surrounding and eventually restore the lake to its beauty once it had.

The efforts of group of people over a period 9months meeting and following up with Upalokayukta and BBMP officials conceded the first joint effort of residents and BBMP official to clean the surrounding of the lake.

BBMP provided about equipment and about 30 workers who worked whole day to clean up the stretch from main road to about 300 mins along the lake. The big JCB cleaned up the drainage that has become the dumping ground for all the near by shopkeepers and BBMP garbage collection contractors.

The volunteers on other hand formed small teams of 6-7 people. They took up the job of cleaning the area around the lake, de-weeding and picking up the garbage thrown around. Two set of teams went door to door, bringing awareness. Explained the shopkeepers on the benefits of keeping the surrounding clean and restoring the lake. Urging them to join the campaign.

There were volunteers of age 6-70+ years. Doing their bit for the current and future generation.

One observation that I took back at the end of the day is that once there is a clearly defined common goal, with intention of selfless act people drop their baggages of caste/creed/colour/age and join hands as if they are one, which is the ultimate truth.

Check out Pictures HERE
For more details regarding the campaign, visit 
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