Yesterday we went birding to Manchinabele Reservoir and several of us planned to go to Kommaghatta Lake this morning.

One of us did visit…and found that the lake had…disappeared.

Here’s part of her message:

“sorry for sending bad news your way so early, ….i reached the *erstwhile* kommaghatta lake and found no sign of it… I could hardly believe my eyes… the entire lake is GONE, disappeared, lake bed dredged up and big mounds lying all over the place. walked across the lake bed… i meant to walk the entire stretch but after a point didn’t have the heart to do it…. still can’t get over the anger and the shock….
no cheers,
-g”

The anguish we all feel speaks through those strong words. How DARE BBMP dry up our water bodies like this? Have they no sense? I read last week that BBMP does not want to plant any more trees in Bangalore because “the roots are shallow”. This may be true of the Rain trees and the Spathodeas (which are from Africa) …but what about planting banyan trees, neem trees or mango trees instead? Our old roads and highways had shelter for wayfarers, and sheltered wildlife and birds, and gave welcome shade even to motorized vehiccles.

What on earth is wrong with our present government that they are so extremely shortsighted>

Is there some way we can get the BBMP to account for the disappearance of Kommaghatta Lake?

I am told that Jakku Lake has been similarly drained. I am…truly anguished. Should I stand by and see my city being murdered and literally dried to death in this fashion? NOTHING will bring back the trees and the lakes once they are going. We can just have “Sampangi Tank Road” and “Miller Road Tank Bed” as road signs, that’s all.

click here

to see where Kommaghatta Lake is….was…situated.

Proceedings of the Sale goes to HCG Foundation.

Dr. Ajai Kumar & Mrs. Bhagya Ajaikumar
Swasti gallery & HCG Foundation
Contemporary Art Gallery,
HCG Towers, # 8, Kalinga Rao Road,
Sampangi Ram Nagar, Bangalore- 560 027.

Swasti gallery initiative of HCG Foundation
SWASTI brings together talented Indian artists and showcases their work. This contemporary art gallery housed at HCG headquarters in Bangalore displays paintings, sculptures and installations, round the year. The proceeds of the sale are shared with the artists and the needy cancer patients. The art gallery serves as an oasis of peace, hope, and tranquility for patients waiting anxiously in the hospital lobby, and lifts their spirits. Swasti’s goal is to spread public awareness and appreciate the role of Arts in the society. They aim at raising funds for the HCG foundation to help support the cancer patients.

Art Mantram
Art Mantram’s objective is to promote art, and encouraging up-and-coming artists by giving them a platform to exhibit their paintings”. Art Mantram’s projects include supporting education for underprivileged children, persons with disabilities and abandoned girl children, in Karnataka, Delhi and Arunachal Pradesh.

Day: Saturday

Date: 10th October 2009,

Time: 6:00pm

Venue: ASHIRWAD, OPP. STATE BANK OF MYSORE, ST. MARK’S ROAD,

BANGALORE -560001; Phone: 080-22210154

You are cordially invited to the screening of film, ‘NEERUNDU NILAMUNDU’, by Bala Kailasam. The details are as follows:

Day: Saturday

Date: 10th October 2009,

Time: 6:00pm

Venue: ASHIRWAD, OPP. STATE BANK OF MYSORE, ST. MARK’S ROAD,

BANGALORE -560001; Phone: 080-22210154

About the film:

The word ‘reforms’ with respect to Government functioning is almost always understood only in its economic context as disinvestment and privatization. Very rarely it is understood as the reform of the functioning of the individuals within the Government, and a change in the form and style of Governance. It is taken for granted that such a mission is impossible!

This film is about a group of engineers working in the water sector in Tamilnadu who are engaged in such a mission. The film traces their journey to 2003; how it started in the ‘The Tamilnadu Water Supply and Drainage Board (TWAD)’ and showcases exemplary stories of individual transformation leading to institutional transformation. The narration is from the point of view of an engineer from the Agricultural Department (AED) undergoing training by a couple of TWAD engineers who share their experience with unbelievable passion.

This is being Co-organized by:

Bangalore Film Society contact: George Kutty @ 9448064513

Visthar contact: Shyam Khalil @ 9845442453

The Other Media contact: Santhosh Kumar @ 09446529991

in collaboration with

Karnataka State Council for Science and Technology

invites you to a workshop on

Urban Lakes as Ecological, Cultural and Public Spaces

A Workshop for Decision makers, Media, NGOs, Teachers, Students and the Public

Date: Saturday 26th September 2009

Time: 9.30 am – 4.00 pm

Venue: Marigowda Hall, Lalbagh, Near Double Road Entrance, Bangalore

The urban built area of Bangalore once had over 300 tanks (now also called as lakes). These water harvesting systems were built over hundreds of years by various generations, and formed an intricate network of water use serving agriculture and drinking water needs. In addition these water bodies have become critical sites for a variety of flora and fauna, especially local and migratory waterfowl.

Over time, these tanks have disappeared due to poor urban planning, lack of concern and reliance on drawing water from faraway rivers. The cultural underpinnings of water conservation that was so innate to life and living in these regions, slowly eroded with the disappearance of these lakes. As the city grows more dense in population and buildings, the critical importance of lakes as social, cultural and ecological spaces is being felt.

Presently less than 60 of these tanks exist in built Bangalore, and most are heavily polluted or drained. As a direct result of encroachment of lakes and its canal networks, Bangalore’s neighbourhoods get easily flooded even in a short rain frequently resulting in loss of life and property.

In this workshop we will understand the traditional methods of use and management of tanks and community relationships that kept these practices alive. We will appreciate the dynamic ecology of lakes and their role in supporting livelihoods of communities dependent on fishing, horticulture and farming. We will focus our concerns on how lakes have transitioned into cesspools of urban waste, sewage and decay. We will examine how critical lakes are to building water security for ever growing Bangalore. We will examine the role of the Rule of Law and Community Action in reviving these critical water bodies. We will also examine current policies of protecting and conserving lakes and examine their efficiency, especially ongoing efforts at privatising lakes. As an overall process we will try and evolve a series of good practices to ensure our lakes are retained for our generation and generations to come.

This workshop is for decision makers from the government and corporate sectors, academicians, media persons, legal professionals, political leaders, etc. Needless to state, anyone is welcome with prior registration.

Proceedings of this workshop will be widely circulated with the help of mass media and also electronically.

For More Details and Registrations contact:

Divya Ravindranath or Bhargavi S. Rao, Environment Support Group, 1572, 36th Cross, Ring Road, Banashankari 2nd Stage, Bangalore 560070 Tel:91-80-26713559/60/61 Email bhargavi@esgindia.org/divyarrs@esgindia.org Website: www.esgindia.org

Lalbagh requires all Participants to pay the entrance fee of RS.10/- at the gates

Steps
Approach the contractor/workers cutting the tree. Ask them if they have the approval of tree officer, BBMP for cutting the tree.

If they dont have the order
Ask them to stop. Tell the that they are not authorised to cut trees and that they can be arrested for cutting trees without required permission. Please call the relevant tree officer.( Details in latter half of mail.)
Tell them the details – what’s happening and where. Ask her/him to come immediately and get the work stopped. If tree officer does not answer her/his phone, call their office number. If you dont get through to that, call the cops from the police station under whose jurisdiction the said road is located. Alert local residents and try and gather support (this could be counter-productive sometimes, they may want the tree to be cut) . And yes, pls take pics of the trees being cut.

If they have the order
Please have a look at the order and see what it says.
Does it have a BBMP seal? Does the order explicitly state that the full tree needs to be cut? Is it signed by the tree officer? Note – some times the tree officers permit the branches to be cut, but people use that to cut the whole tree. If permission is granted only for cutting branches, only branches can be cut, not the trunk. In case they have what appears to be a order, but the order looks fishy/incomplete, call the tree officer on cellphone/landline and inquire if permission has been granted.

In case they do have the order to cut trees and it looks like they have been granted permission, just double-check with the tree officer anyway. Call the tree officer on cell-phone/landline and speak to her/him confirming if an order has been passed to cut the trees in that location.

If they have the order and it looks like its genuine and the order allows felling of trees
If at the end you realise that the tree officer has granted permission to cut the trees, there is not much you can do at that moment to stop it. Ask the tree officer if trees are being replanted in the same area, to compensate for the trees being cut. If trees are not being replanted in the same area, thats a violation of the act.

Later, you can also file an appeal with the tree authority, BBMP against the
tree officer’s order.

Tree Officer Contact Details

Tree officer North (Zones – North, East, Mahadevpura, Bytarayanapura)
Suresh – 9845174447, 22485317

His office is in the BBMP main office, hudson circle.

Tree officer South (Zones – South, West, Bomannahalli, Raja Rajeshwari Nagar)
Venkateshappa – 94806 83842, 2657 8423

Office – in the BBMP southern zone office, Jayanagar 2nd block, close to Ashoka pillar.

Groundbreaking Children’s Ride.
When are we riding: Sunday, September 6th 2009
Starting point: Sarjapur Road.
http://quikmaps.com/show/113961 shows the directions from the junction of Outer Ring Road/Sarjapur ring road to the starting point. PLEASE NOTE THE GREEN ARROW IS THE STARTING POINT

Gathering time: 4:00PM
Departure time: 4:30PM
Expected finish time: 6:30PM
Ride type: All Road Child Friendly RIDE
Distance: two circles – one each 3KM and a 5KM circle. We will try to identify some place where we can stop for ice creams or kid-friendly snacks after the event.
Number of children: Unknown at this time. (Will circulate this when we are done)

NOTE: THIS IS OUR FIRST RIDE. SO PLEASE BEAR WITH US AND GIVE US YOUR FEEDBACK ON WHAT WE CAN DO TO IMPROVE YOUR CHILD’S EXPERIENCE. WE ORGANIZERS ARE PARENTS TOO, SO WE HAVE A VESTED INTEREST IN THIS EVENT :-)

Here’s an announcement I got via Hasiru Usiru:

Those who want unbaked, uncoloured Ganesha vigrahams of the size that can be dissolved at home in a bucket of water and poured back to join your garden soil, can contact

3419177 or 9342303247

or email Chandra Ravikumar at

chandraravikumar@hotmail.com

Here’s an announcement I got via Hasiru Usiru:

Those who want unbaked, uncoloured Ganesha vigrahams of the size that can be dissolved at home in a bucket of water and poured back to join your garden soil, can contact

3419177 or 9342303247

or email Chandra Ravikumar at

chandraravikumar@hotmail.com

The panel
Mr Nagaraj (rainwater harvesting user at Jayanagar)
Mr Navneeth (Project Engineer, Indian Institute of Science)
Mr Sharada Prasad (Argyam, water NGO)
Dr Balagangadhar (Scientist, KSPCB)
Dr Robert Joseph (St Johns Hospital)

This will be an interactive session and will run for around
90 minutes.
Venue for this event is
Magnus School of Business
13th Cross, 6th main road
J.P.Nagar 3rd Phase
Thanka & Regards
Raghavendra,
9611106477
Ops & Mktg Lead, Oorvani Media
Publisher: Citizen Matters, Bangalore’s own newsmagazine

Citizen Matters online
http://www.citizenmatters.in

Citizen Matters print
http://www.citizenmatters.in/print
15,000 copies, available in JP Nagar+BTM only

Comprehensive Trauma Consortium, is a voluntary non-profit organization established in March 2000, specializes in providing round-the-clock Free Ambulance Rescue service (Pre-hospital care) to accident victims in and around Bangalore City . We have conducted 70,000 rescues so far.

The objective of this course is to create the importance of Pre-Hospital Care and equip the participant with first aid and CPR skills. This certified course is for one full day along with manual. The course fee is Rs.350/ per person. For registration please call @ 9880323829 and confirm before 30th May 2009.

Venue Details :

Date 30 /05/ 2009 (Saturday)

Time 10.00 am – 4.00 pm

Venue

Essae Chandran Institute

No.410, 100ft Road, 4th Block,

Koramangala,

Bangalore – 34.

For any further clarification, please contact

Mr.Vageesha

Training Co-coordinator

CTC PRIME

Mobile : 9880323829

The people of Bangalore deeply mourn the sad demise of our life giving trees, which lost their lives due to our callousness. We will be performing a , ”Shraddha” ceremony for them, on Sunday 24th May at 11am. Please join us to pray for the departed souls.

This condolence meet will be followed by a meeting on the next course of action to be taken to save LAL BAGH and our other PARKS

Venue

Park at 32nd Cross and Nanda Road Junction Jayanagar

Organized by

“Sanmathi” and “Hasiru Usiru”

Preferred dress : White dhotis sarees /dress