Bellandur Kere Habba – A Dream in Making

 

My apartment is on lakeside, the largest lake of Bangalore, I mentioned to a friend and the response was “Awwww, Envy you!!! Must be a picturesque sight!!!”. I asked the same question to myself, is it a reality? And the answer was BIG NO. Sight could have been picturesque if there was no froth, no fumes and no weeds. It could have been pleasure to walk/drive along lake shore but the fact is, the froth enters school buses and fills complete road. The obvious question is why do all these exist in first place? Whom should I ask? Who is responsible? As an individual, I land up making Government responsible and further assuming Government will not be enough responsive. The only answer to this entire list of questions is lack of awareness and taking ownership.

Team who has interacted with Government official understands that, Government officials are keen on lake work but being part of huge Governing System, they have their own challenges but above all there is need of awareness about: What’s being done on Lake Front? What is expected from people and Government? Set and nurture the idea of working hand in hand with Government towards the common goal of “Lake Rejuvenation”: An impromptu idea of a Platform where all stake holders join and share ideas, concerns, updates and way forward. Soon the idea started taking shape…. The first ever “Kere Habba (Lake Fest)”, one of its kind event that will bring all Government Stake holders, Citizens and Social groups on the common platform to collaborate and connect, with the aim of solving the teething issue,  of cleaning of lake.

Bellandur Kere Habba…. Sounded like a distant dream; when, all we hear about our beloved bed ridden lake is only froth, fumes, smell and fires. And we dared to DREAM the impossible.

Finally, on August 5, we were on ground zero next to the lake, celebrating the lake which was first loved, then abused and now struggling to be alive. Should we have waited to see the lake completely rejuvenated or was it right to celebrate small steps [pebble stone if not milestone in this long journey]?  Not sure, but all of us, who put together hard work over three weeks, were very happy to see our dream come true with the initiative undertaken towards lake rejuvenation celebration and associated events supporting the cause.

The much talked about Bellandur lake is struggling to find the saviour in the tussle among various government departments BDA who is owner, BBMP who is supposed to safeguard it from dumping, BWSSB who is supposed to protect it from 40% of city sewage entering, KSPCB who is supposed to monitor its life, KLCDA who is custodian and then we, the citizens living around it, watching it getting torturous every single day, felt its pain and the need to save it.

Mr. Ram Parasad, from Friends of Lakes, mentioned during panel discussion that lakes are nature’s gift and belong to commons. Unless there is realization about this close coupling of water bodies and human life, no measures undertaken will bear any fruit. We need to understand water in our tap is coming from a source that needs to be kept alive and clean.
Dr. Vasanthi Amar, JC, Mahadevapura zone BBMP mentioned that till the time people used to go to water bodies to fetch water, they had a close-knit connection. Now water comes to homes in tap and we have forgotten and neglected the sources of water.

2017 has heralded “Save Bellandur” lake efforts to new heights after the instances of two fires and excessive foam in the lake and subsequent NGT order rapping civic authorities to take necessary steps to clean and rejuvenate the lake. We, the members of Bellandur lake citizen committee, are engaged regularly to monitor the progress of work that was promised and pushed by NGT order and recommended by Lake expert committee. And then we met BDA officials, who told us about all the proposals and tenders that have been going around rejuvenating lake. We all wanted to see those tall claims on ground. Surprisingly, officials were equally keen to showcase work done so far, to citizens to give assurance of what’s being done. Things started falling in place and August 5th became the historical day to have first ever Bellandur lake Kere Habba.

Habba in Making
Three weeks’ notice and Bellandur Lake group took it on themselves to make it happen with whatever time and resources we had in hand. We got assurance from BDA, KLCDA and BBMP to provide full support.

The lake group members started discussing on dedicated WhatsApp group and started formalizing the event. Some in disbelieve and some in excitement… There is a saying that when you really dream with all passion, whole universe comes together and conspires to make it happen. Rotary club came on board for the planned event, Radio Mirchi brought in additional the excitement and fervour to motivate, and we started dreaming bigger and bigger.

Communities around lakes came forward to pitch in with micro contributions. Businesses around lake came forward and Bellandur Kere Habba started getting into shape with daily discussions, ground inspection, sponsorships and programs. Decathlon came forward to conduct cycling event, Art matters for collaborative art, Clay Ganesha for children art activity. EchoAcademy brought in Nirvana, and Zumba on the lake side, Yoga with Ganesh Guruji. Hawk Sports Arena came on board to provide all support from sports Arena. BDA started levelling the ground. BBMP pitched in to ensure ground is cleared for the designated day. KSPCB and BDA provided all required help along with permissions in organizing the event.

All activities to connect with lake like Lake detective, lake photo walk with different moods (by Geek Ideas) and conditions of lake, run on lake road, lake issues explained by kids, all these events left the crowd mesmerized and nostalgic about the lake and surrounding natural ecosystem. Yes, lake still has weeds, there is still foam and there is still smell but after realizing the value and potential of the place, We, the citizens are becoming more adamant to push the envelope even more to get things in order and rejuvenate the lake to breathe the life back. The lake which has become a sore spot at present, will soon be an asset to community as we stand up together and connect and collaborate to clean it up, just the way we saw the collaboration for Kere Habba.

Setback and Moving on
Though all officials BBMP Commissioner, BDA commissioner, KSPCB chairman, KLDCA CEO, BBMP JC SWM, blocked their calendar to connect with citizens for panel discussions, last minute CM city tour looked like overshadowing the zeal of Bellandur Lake Group. But what a hopelessly optimist crowd we are. We outshined it with wonderful panel discussion with experts and the panellists included Dr. Yellapa Reddy (former Secretary, Dept. of Ecology & Environment,), Dr. Vijay Kumar (MD Scalene & BBMP Expert Member), Sridhar Pabisetty (Namma Bengaluru Foundation) Ram Prasad (Friends of Lakes), Md Naimatulla Khan (BDA), N Lakshman (KSPCB), JC Mahadevapura (BBMP) and Dr. Vasanthi Amar (BBMP) to discuss the status of the Lake and the rejuvenation measures being undertaken.

The session helped the public understand the lake issues, the options available for rejuvenation, current status and the role of various stakeholders and bodies.
Session also made citizens understand it's not only responsibility of government but we (CITIZENS) are equally responsible to safe guard and rejuvenate our own lake. Some of the specialists indicated that the lake could be completely revived in a span of three years with cooperation of all stakeholders.

All guests planted sapling along the fencing of buffer zone to mark the rejuvenation celebration.

The day, started with wonderful run along the lake, cycling by the lake, yoga, Zumba, hustle bustle of food and other flea market shops selling eco-friendly items, witnessed kids, adults all engaged equally with food, fun and lot of awareness about lake. Kid’s vision of lake in form of art was breath-taking.

Zero Waste Affair
And all along the celebrations and proceedings, we kept eagle eye to make it zero waste event with no plastic water bottles, no paper cups, and no disposables at all.  Proper colour coded labelled as per 2bin1bag guidelines [www.2bin1bag.in] bins were placed at the venue. Food vendors served in steel, areca and leaf plates, water dispensers were placed all around to refill water bottles. All invites reminded all to bring napkins, water bottle, and cloth bag. Stall organisers were given detailed zero waste guidelines in advance. Even panellist on the stage were served water in steel tumblers and clay bottles. After long time, seeing stage without disposable water bottles really made us think that it's doable to have any event without generating waste. Swachcha was engaged to manage waste to ensure that food waste is composted along with areca and leaf disposables. Recycled waste is rightly going to recycling.  Even sign boards were reused from #KillBills drive. No flower bookeys, no garlands for guest “Only our appreciation, love and respect”. All guest speakers left their mark behind by planting a sapling.  We have kept all signs printed to be used at next Kere Habba at Soul Kere which is on August 19th as Vigyana Habba. Art work was put along the lake fence to appeal to all those who missed the Habba to pay attention to the lake.

What citizen Want Next
We are looking to convert the ground zero to walking trail and Nature Park so all of us can closely watch our beloved Kere and monitor its health on daily basis. Sridhar Pabisetty, CEO Namma Bengaluru said that citizens need to watch and guard their surroundings. If citizens are active and vigilant and participate wholeheartedly, then only we have chance to survive and sustain ourselves.

We are ready to participate and lead the way and demand officials and government to facilitate the cleaning of lake. We will work closely with all concerned departments to push for implementation of expert committee recommendations. While speeding up STP is main priority and creates dependency on other work like desilting and desludging, fencing the lake completely to stop dumping garbage, sewage, C&D is equally important. We the citizen committee look for transparency from government agency on rejuvenation plan and progress. Despite NGT notice, only partial de-weeding, encroachment removal and fencing is done. We need to ensure that work speed up so we don’t lose the lake. Foaming has to stop, fires need to stop. Bellandur lake should become attraction of the town by showcasing transformation from the Biggest lake to most Beautiful lake.


Let’s all take a pledge together: We will all be vigilant, will not allow anyone to abuse our lakes and nature and help in any way to make the lakes and city look beautiful. We will dare to dream BIG.

Kudos to our volunteers and rock star organizers!!!


This article was first published in Citizen Matters (www.citizenmatters.in) and is republished here with permission.

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