Halagevaderahalli lake: 9 acres of neighbours' pride

Niveditha Sunkad, a resident of

Rajarajeshwari Nagar

, was on her evening walk when she noticed the dried up lake bed in the neighbourhood, conveniently turned into a

dump yard

.

Sunkad

was doing social work with an

NGO

and she wondered if the lake merited a largescale effort of its own.


It was 2015 and Sunkad had been living in RR Nagar in BEML Layout for 10 years. She was known as something of an activist, environmentalist and social worker but this time, she realised it was time to mobilise support.

Working with ‘Youth For Seva’, Sunkad contacted Ramesh Shivaram, a member of the NGO, who told her that an organisation would have to be formed to seek official help. Thus, RR Nagar I Care, a non-profit, was born the same year, with four other founding members – Rahul BS, Srivatsa, KN Malathi and Shalini Bhat. “Ramesh’s guidance helped us form a small trust and then approach BBMP,” said Sunkad. They started to discuss ways in which the lake could be restored without sewage water coming into it.

“Everybody had their opinion and to combine everything and present it to BBMP was a challenge but BBMP officials handled it smoothly,” said Sunkad. It was only after BBMP approval and the involvement of politicians, she said, that things went haywire.

“The local corporators suddenly came into the picture and started making it look like it was their efforts all the way. We had to weed out these people and focus on the lake.”

Today, the

Halagevaderahalli lake

is spread across 17 acres of which the lake takes up nine acres, two acres is open space and six acres is encroached upon. Merely retaining the nine acres of the lake was a struggle, Sunkad said.

“We as an organisation water the plants and de-weed the place when our volunteers have the time,” said Malathi. “We have never estimated the cost to maintain the park till date because we do it purely for the love of the lake, from our own funds. Instead of fund donation, we need sweat donation to maintain the lake.” Of late, the lake has had a few winged guests too, including the grey-headed myna, ducks, kingfisher, peacock and redwhiskered bulbul.

RR Nagar I Care planted around 200 saplings for the first time in 2013, which they followed up every year during World Environment Day. “The struggle to get a few corporate companies to provide funds to set up toilets within the park is still on. Some small companies have been providing small amounts to maintain the lake,” said one of the trustees.

N Narasimhan, a resident of Rajarajeshwari Nagar, says RR Nagar I Care has given the lake a new lease of life. “If it was not for Niveditha and her team, this lake would have become a huge garbage mound,” he said.





Stay updated with breaking news, bank holidays and upcoming public holidays in march.