School students, college-goers, young professionals and environmental activists came together on Friday morning to clean up the contaminated Kapra Lake in Secunderabad
The road to the Kapral Lake at Sainikpuri usually wears a deserted look. The surroundings, peppered by high rises is the perfect residential address — quiet, calm, clean and luxurious. Amidst this sea of tranquillity, the lake stands out as a sore thumb. And this is mainly because the water body has been constantly used and abused by the multitude. The surroundings of the serene lake are jarring, with garbage strewn around and the pungent smell of decaying waste. But on Friday morning, a group of environment conscious citizens descended upon the lake, to do their bit to save the water body and restore its former glory.
Spearheaded by The Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI), a wildlife conservation and habitat restoration group, the drive to clean up the Kapral Lake saw volunteers from six schools, a corporate giant, the Indian Army and GHMC participate with gusto. “We are cleaningup the Kapral Lake of physical garbage today because several other life forms depend on the lake for survival, including aquatic, birds and other terrestrial life forms,” says Arun Krishnamurthy, founder, EFI.
What lies beneath?
The clean up drive which began at 8 am in the morning, saw volunteers fish out harmful waste from the bottom and surroundings of the lake. “We fished out huge amounts of Plaster of Parisdeposits which are the result of the idol immersion from Ganesh Chaturthi,” says Krishnamurthy, adding, “In the name of God, we have been dumping garbage in the lake and harming aquatic life.” Putting a number to the amount of garbage collected, he says, “In an hour we have collected 2.3 tons. After this four hour drive, we expect to collect 4 tons of waste.”
Hyderabad not the worst
The EFL, based in five cities, first began their lake restoration programme in Hyderabad in the year 2006. “We have identified around four lakes in and around the city that needs to be cleaned and restored to ensure a cleaner water body on it,” says an EFL volunteer.
As part of their programme, the foundation has held clean-up drives in cities like Delhi, Chennai and Lucknow as well. “During our work, we have discovered that the maximum amount of toxic waste lies in water bodies in Delhi. Cleaning them is quite a task.
Hyderabad, on the other hand, is not so bad,” says the volunteer. But that does not give us city folks the leverage to gloat at being ‘most environment friendly’. For according to the EFL, the Miyapur Lake spewed out 12 tons of toxic waste in the year 2008 alone!
No marathon men
With the environment being on everyone’s mind these days, the city’s youngsters have joined forces to battle this issue. “School kids are the most enthusiastic. They give it their best. Corporate giants too have joined us,” Arun adds.
But when it comes to ‘doing your bit’, the organisation prefers to see the results than just doing a token job in the name of environment — you’ve got to get your hands dirty. In fact, the volunteers for a city corporate house, planted 20 Neem saplings on the Lake bunds. Meanwhile, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation too has lent its full support by sending in a garbage disposable truck along with volunteers to help out in the initiative. They took the garbage collected from the lake to the dumping grounds.
The road ahead
While hours of labour and sweat have been put into cleaning up the lake, the primary concern could be the reversal of the results, what with citizens using the water body as dumping grounds once again. But a prevention module has been put in place by the foundation. “We are in the process of installing bird nests and feeders with the GHMC. A detailed study on the flora and fauna life around the lake will follow too. Our aim is to convert the lakes into biodiversity hotspots, housing all life forms. There are two more lakes to be restored by end of the year,” says Arun.
sarah.salvadore@timesgroup.com
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / Home> Life & Style> People / by Sarah Salvadore, TNN / June 30th, 2012