A tale of two lakes

This March when 26 yearold IT engineer Manjunath MP formed the Sarakki Lake Area Improvement Trust SLAIT trust in Bengaluru people wondered what he was trying to save in the first place The 60acre area mdash Sarakki Lake mdash in south Bengaluru doesnrsquot have a drop of water Puttenahalli Lake before the restoration process Pics CourtesyArathi Manay and Sarakki Lake the largest in Bengaluru is now being restored Pic CourtesyManjunath MP ldquoYou cannot see the water because of the weeds and the sewage collectedrdquo says Manjunath over the phone Manjunath has been living close to Sarakki lake at JP Nagar in Bengaluru since 2004 For six years for him all Sarakki Lake meant was a patch of land suffering due to the newlyconstructed housing societies around it Ideally the societies were supposed to have a sewage treatment plant but they didnrsquot and the sewage was dumped into what was supposed to be a lake he says ldquoEvery day on my way to work and back I would glance at this large piece of land mdash a barren lake mdash and look the other wayrdquo In November 2011 Manjunath came across something on the Internet on the Puttenahalli Lake which is close to Sarakki lake He mixed up their names and wrote to Bengalurursquos municipal corporation Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike BBMP Trustee Arathi Manay at Puttenahalli Lake Soon he heard about the Puttenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust PNLIT and met the trustees ldquoIt was a group of residents who I later learnt had managed to transform Puttenahalli Lake over two years When I requested them to take up Sarakki Lakersquos work too one of the trustees looked at me and said lsquoWhy donrsquot you take it up It is difficult but citizens like you can make all the differencersquordquo Today Manjunath is closer to his dream of seeing Sarakki Lake restored to its former shape After forming SLAIT he shot out 20 letters to various government agencies across Karnataka local civic authorities corporators and MLAs Three weeks ago the Bangalore Development Authority BDA the body in charge of site allotment in the city sent an official letter about the lakersquos restoration plan ldquoThe lake will be restored in three phases and they will deal with three major issues mdash encroachments sewage and construction debris The first phase will include putting a fence around the lake employing a security guard to ensure the fencing isnrsquot destroyed and surveying the area The last was done four years ago and revealed that the original of Sarakki Lake was 86 acres mdash not just 60 acresrdquo says an incredulous Manjunath Sarakki Lake the largest in Bengaluru is now being restored Pic CourtesyManjunath MP Sarakki Lake is home to many ldquoThanks to political backing therersquos a mud road around the lake homes and streetlights on the lsquolakersquo toordquo Recently Manjunath met a local who said he faces frequent illnesses because he pumps water from the borewell near the lake Taking a leaf out of the PNLIT Manjunath has begun designing activities around the lake ldquoWersquove printed banners and posters and chosen a big departmental store to display it A company as part of its CSR held a rally Volunteers have approached us too It is the just the beginning We await the time when it will be handed over to us locals like Puttenahalli Lake wasrdquo says Manjunath Arathi Manay a 42 yearold trustee of the PNLIT agrees with Manjunath on all counts mdash that it will be a long timeconsuming process and also that the largest lake in Bengaluru will be in the safe hands of locals who care Manay who recently shifted from Bengaluru to Mumbai says she misses the Puttenahalli Lake after fighting for it for over two years ldquoBut distance from something you love helps in its own way toordquo she smiles Manay now manages online activities designed around the lake mdash the blog and the website and recently participated in a corporate event which won her money for Puttenahalli Lake The Purple Moorhen is one of the 50 species of birds who visits Puttenahalli Lake Pics CourtesySudhir Singh In June 2009 Manay along with four friends founded PNLIT and began the battle for Puttenahalli Lake Encroachments had reduced the area from 13 to 12 acres and the lsquolakersquo was a shadow of its former self mdash a bunch of meek scattered puddles After the BBMP decided to restore the lake on PNLITrsquos insistence over two years Manay and her friends spent hours at the lake overseeing the cleaning and construction processes ldquoFor two years my life was about bringing up my two children and waiting at the lake while they were away at school Even the contractors didnrsquot mess with us by say not turning up at the site because one of us would immediately notice and call the civic authorities and report negligencerdquo smiles Manay It was Manay and her friends who spoke up against the initial plan of the gazebo that was being constructed near the lake ldquoThe idea was great but the contractors chose a site with loose soil so we insisted that they construct the gazebo at an alternate place They had to give inrdquo she says In May 2011 the BBMP handed over the lake to PNLIT mdash the first time a water body has ever been handed to locals in the country mdash and the lake is flourishing says Manay SLAIT has numerous activities planned around the lake mdash gardening composting nature walks and so on The lake she says is famous for holding birthday parties for children who want to understand nature better ldquoWe have also employed local women from nearby villages who make cloth bags which are later distributed to shops in the city We are trying to design activities which can include the encroachers because they feel left out of the lakerdquo Puttenahalli Lake which hadnrsquot seen birds in decades is now home to over 50 bird species and is a hotspot for bird photographers ldquoAt a bird race in January this year it was the only area in Bengaluru where the participants found the Garganey ducks that migrate from Europe and West Asiardquo PNLIT is currently trying to gather funds to construct water inlets in the lake which can be connected to storm water drains in the city so the water level in the lake can be restored to its optimum level A 11 kmlong walking track has been constructed around the lake toou00a0Manjunath on the other hand has grander plans ldquoPuttenahalli has a walking track mdash but wersquoll build a cycling track around Sarakki Lake when itrsquos restoredrdquo he smilesu00a0