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.

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

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.

The various sessions are as follows:

-

Historical view of lakes in Bangalore
-

Current status of Lakes in Bangalore
-

Criticality of lakes for water security in Bangalore
-

Urban Lakes as functional eco-systems
-

Legal and Policy frameworks that govern lakes

The workshop aims to bring together Decision makers, Media, NGOs, Teachers,
Students and the general public.

You are also invited to use the workshop as an opportunity to display your
photo-exhibits, charts, models, and other forms of visual representations on
lakes, bird-life, other aquatic life, livelihoods and so on. We are sure
that the sharing of your work will deepen the discussion at the workshop.

If you are interested in the same and want to discuss further details,
please contact Divya Ravindranath,Researcher, Environment Support Group at

*divyarrs@esgindia.org*

Here are the names of the films which will be screened at Arathi. Water is becoming a
very crucial issue for all of us and for which we all need to be concerned
about.

Kindly make a note of the film to be screened on Saturday at 4.00pm Living
Water: In the beginning where the Directors of the film will be present and
will take up the discussion afterwards. So please come and be part of
viewing this film in large numbers.

There will also be an inauguration of the International Film Festival at
4.00pm on 4th September 2009 at Alliance Francaise. All are welcome to
attend the Inauguration.

For any further queries, contact Latha Paul, General Secretary,YWCA of Bangalore City, on

9739047011.

YWCA, Koramangala

Friday 4th September, 2009

10.30am

*Holy Water (23min/Sweden/ India)*

Dir: Lotta Ekelunnd

As the cola companies deplete and pollute the essential ground water of the
communities, strong feminine voices rise in protest. And while they are
successful in shutting down a cola plant, the film debates the larger and
ever-more-pertinent question of our age- Whose water? And to whom does it
rightfully belong?

10.50am

*A Sea Change (85min/USA)*

Dir: Barbara Ettinger

The oceans of the world are in great turmoil and in the last few years, the
waters have increasingly turned acidic, corrosive and dangerous to all forms
of life. Fearing for the near future into which his grandson and a new
generation will grow into, Sven Huseby, retired professor and all-round
jovial gentleman, sets out on a journey to uncover the roots, the effects
and the damage of the environmental catastrophe and then, towards solutions
and hope. Evocative and charged with the spirit of adventure and discovery,
‘A Sea Change’ was awarded the prestigious Dumosa Award for Best Coastal
Film.

12.15pm

*Umiaq Skin Boat (31min/Canada)*

Dir: Jobie Weetaluktuk

Umiaq Skin Boat is a beautiful and poetic 30-minute film about a group of
Inuit elders in Inukjuak, Quebec who decide one summer to build the first
traditional seal skin boat their community has seen in over 50 years. Umiaq
Skin Boat bears witness to the resilience of the Inuit spirit in rapidly
changing times.

1.00pm – 2.00pm

LUNCH

2.00pm

*Sujan Bandhu, a boatman’s journey (19min/India)*

Dir: Viplab Majumder

The river, like life, inspires us to keep moving and that is the story of
this protagonist of ‘Sujan Bandhu’. More than the documentation of his life,
the director feels it is the documentation of life itself.

2.20pm

*Chilila Bank$ (60min/India)*

Dir: Akanksha Joshi

In a canvass spread over four decades, a banyan tree, on the banks of the
lake Chilika, silently whispers tales of the lake and her fisher flock. From
the times when there was no export bazaar to the time when there may be no
lake.

3.20pm

*Woman of Dorfak (20min/Iran)*

*Dir: *Mohammad Nami

Dorfak with a height of 2705 meters is the largest crater of Iran located
east of Roodbar. The slope of the volcano is a suitable summer quarters for
the people who come from humid villages and jungles for animal husbandry. On
the top of the mountain there is no drinking spring water. The task of
providing it is entrusted to the girls and women of Dorfak.

3.40pm

*Discussion*

**

*Saturday 5th September, 2009*

12.30pm

*Jala Tarangani (12min/India)*

*Conceived & Produced by the Students & Teachers of **Christel House India**
*

Weaving notes of instruments like the flute and the guitar with the sound of
the water and the students of Christel House India learn to make music in
this delightful film and in the process discover a reason to celebrate and
care for water as a wondrous element of everyday magic and also a scarce
natural resource of immense importance for the well-being of the planet.

12.40pm

*Barren Dreams (28min/Bangladesh)*

Dir: Anwar Chowdhury

In the midst of the Jamuna, lie the conjoined islands of Patilbari-Dighalkan
di, formed as a result of erosion. ‘Barren Dreams’ evocatively and with a
quiet dignity captures the lives of the children on these islands as they go
about their daily routines. In the midst of hardship, the film locates a
certain hope in these young hearts and in that perhaps, lies a better future
for us all.

1.10pm

*Waterworks (22min/Bangladesh)*

Dir: Anwar Chowdhury

Artist Farida Zaman describes the influence of her childhood memories of
boats, fishing nets, fishes, fishermen on her life and paintings. Her
country’s rivers, the life around them and her nostalgia for peace and quiet
of the rural countryside inevitably find their way into her work.

1.30pm – 2.15pm

LUNCH

2.15pm

*Heather and Goliath (10min/USA)*

Dir: Thea Mercouffer

A rousing account of a biologist with the Army Corps of Engineers, a
satirist and a bunch of boaters stand up to the authorities, and change the
course of history for the embattled LA river.

2.30pm

*Source to Sea: The Columbian River Swim (90min/USA/Canada)*

Dir: Andy Morris

Chris Swan swam 1243miles in 13months, all across the Columbia River,
braving not just cold and exhaustion but pollution and encroachments which
threaten to turn the once thriving and glorious water body into sewage,
displacement and extinction. Andy Morris’s remarkable ‘Source to Sea’ is not
just a rousing paean to human endeavor but also spans the ancient story of a
river and the life and culture that thrives in and around it. It is through
these epic narratives that the film arrives on the essential connect between
man and the elements; one we are in the danger of forgetting. Winner of the
Best Environmental activism/ Social Justice Award and Most Inspiring
Adventure Film Award.

4.00pm

*Living Water: in the beginning (23min/India)*

Dir: Vinay Silva & Divya Bhatt

*Living Water explores the wisdom of God manifested through water. It
reflects the struggle of earth and mankind as we endeavour to understand
water, its all encompassing utility and its preservation. The film implores
that ‘Preservation is Communion’ is the key.**

**What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul
!!!!*

*(Director will be present for screening and discussion)***

4.20pm

Discussion

**

*Sunday 6th September, 2009*

12.30pm

*Deeply Superficial (26min/India)*

Dir: Veneet Raj Bagga

‘Deeply Superficial’ is the chronicle of many meanings the waters of the
river Ganga holds for the people of this diverse country. Mired in these
meanings is a strange irony- where the river is venerated as holy and pure,
the condition of its water and surroundings is tragic and full of filth. The
film seeks out the people working to save the river and implores that each
one of us can contribute our bit to retain and preserve the essence of our
rivers for generations to come.

* *

*1.00pm*

*Walk with Water (Nira Nadige) (18min/India)*

Dir: K. Murali Mohan Kati & Manjunath H.

A sobering look at the city of Bangalore in the throes of the water crisis.

**

*1.20pm – 2.00pm*

*LUNCH*

**

*2.00pm*

*Call of the Thirsty Jholapuri (54min/India)*

Dir: Nafisa Barot

In simplest of terms, ‘Call of the Thirsty Jholapuri’ spells out the need of
the hour in pursuit of a better tomorrow. Dramatizing a fable of a village
girl who completes her education and returns to her village to unite the
people in the river basin through a Prem Setu (Love Bridge), the film calls
for a more gender just, equitable, peaceful, sustainable future.

**

*3.00pm*

*Sharing Paradise (58min/USA/Indonesi a)*

Dir: Amelia Hapsari

The fishing community of the rustic Indonesian Island of Balobaloang is
facing a crisis like they have never faced before, a thoroughly modern one.
For a community that stills bides by traditional practices, their waters
have increasingly come under siege by fishermen from neighboring islands,
who even after depleting their own island’s fish reserves, continue to
engage in dynamite bombing and cyanide fishing. Director Amelia Hapsari
gathers the Balobaloang community around her and together their voices shape
the narrative and the story of ‘Sharing Paradise’.

**

*4.00pm*

*Secret Life (12min/Poland)*

Dir: Joanna Hoffmann

The video refers to the contemporary quest for life and its definition. In a
poetic way, it combines micro and macro scales, scientific images with
everyday surrounding and experiences. It touches the subject of water as a
source of life.

*4.15pm *Discussion

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 project, consisting of seven underground stations, will be commissioned by September 2012. On completion, train service will be provided at an interval of four minutes initially, and it will be reduced to three minutes in due course,” BMRCL has committed to get the entire network ready by that month in an affidavit filed in the Karnataka High Court. Hope this deadline does not remain on the affidavit alone…

ABIDe, which stands for Agenda for Bengaluru Infrastructure and Development Task Force is an initiative of Chief Minister, Karnataka, Mr B.S Yeddyurappa and comprises of several noted citizens and leaders who have come forward to build a better Bengaluru. Member of Parliament Mr Ananth Kumar is the Vice Chairman of ABIDe, Member of Parliament,Mr Rajeev Chandrasekhar is the Convenor.
Since its inception, ABIDe members have put together a series of recommendations before the Government on specific issues
Ø  Regional Governance
Ø  Traffic and Transport
Ø  Heritage
These recommendations are contained in the reports published by ABIDe, and available online at www.abidebengaluru.in.  The recommendations also contain a blueprint for action by the government, to create rapid changes in the areas of focus.
At this juncture, the government is considering the Task Force’s recommendations to strengthen regional governance, and will very likely introduce legislation based on the recommendations in the coming months. At this time, we are keen to therefore seek the citizen’s inputs to refining the recommendations further, and to have your voice heard by the lawmakers as well. A series of public consultations is being scheduled in the city. The first such consultation will be held at the following venue:
National Games Village, Builder’s Club-Koramangala.
Date & Time: Sunday 12th July 2009 at 11 am
We hope you will attend this upcoming event, and help members of the ABIDe Task Force in gathering citizen inputs for subsequent action to build a better Bengaluru.
I look forward to seeing you this Sunday at the venue of the first public consultation.

Every time I drive by MG Road, or CMH Road for that matter, I wonder how long it’s going to take before we see an actual “Namma Metro” flag-off. I’m not keeping track of it every day, but here’s someone who is. Ravi Kumar who was on the author team at Metblogs is so driven about the Namma Metro project that he has two dedicated blogs – to give you regular updates. This way you can track the progress made, wherever you are in the world.

Workmen fix a gantry with the aid of two cranes near the Old Madras Road station on Route 1 of Bangalore’s Namma Metro project. Photo contributed by former Bangalore Metblogs author, Ravi Kumar, as he tracks the progress of Bangalore’s Metro project: Namma Metro at http://nammametrotales.wordpress.com. You can also see pictures of the project at his photoblog: http://nammametrophotoblog.wordpress.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