WPA volunteers at Puttenahalli Lake

On Saturday 21st Jun 2014, a group of fourteen young employees from WPA World Class Services (India), Koramangala spent a couple of hours out in the sun at Puttenahalli Lake, away from the air-conditioned rooms of their office. Many had come from the east of Bangalore, volunteering their time, to help with the upkeep of the lake area. 

After a brief introduction by PNLIT trustee Nupur Jain, they set to work to clean up the long stretch along the Nataraja Layout - Coconut Grove side, guided by our neighbourhood volunteer Rekha George. They were an enthusiastic group with everyone looking for the tools appropriate for the main task of digging out the overgrown weeds and unwanted plants. At times they just had to use their hands. It was tough work, given that it had not rained for several days and the ground was hard. To complete the job, the weeds were transferred to the leaf composters that are set along the walking track, and in a few months will turn to manure. 

Mr Prashanth Mahadevaiah, Manager QA, from WPA, who lives close to the lake said, "It was a wonderful experience which tested our team members' strengths physically, and a memorable one as we worked along together as a team." Indeed, a satisfying way to spend a Saturday morning! Thanks to the WPA team.

Pics: Rekha / Nupur​

Apart from volunteering your services, if your organisation/ institution/ association would like to partner with PNLIT and Puttenahalli Lake, here are some of the opportunities which can be of mutual benefit.

Corporate Social Responsibility. We understand the needs of organisations to enable CSR activities that truly contribute, are meaningful to the participants and are easily managed. There are a host of long and short-term programmes for organisational groups to be a part of at the lake, at different capacities.

Training. The enclosed area of the lake allows for high quality and novel Corporate Training and other training programmes. It is outdoors, not far from the city and unique. Lake management activities can be used to form a basis for the activity and the space/perimeter walkway area can also be used.

Creating Events. Organisations, individuals and groups can also contribute through revenue earned by hosting chargeable Workshops, Camps and Activities - Photography, Nature walks and Bird spotting, School sessions, Garage sales, Art or Photo Competitions and more.

Merchandise / Promotional Material. Funding can also be facilitated by the sale/auctions of objects and craft items, such as cloth bags, T-shirts, tea coasters, calendars, recycled bottle cap key chains and fridge magnets, wristbands, at fairs at apartment complexes, offices, school carnivals and other community programmes. With your logo/ branding, these can be customized to serve as corporate gifts.  

For more details, do drop us a line <puttenahalli.lake@gmail.com> and we will get in touch with you.  

Website: http://www.puttenahallilake.in.

Weekend cleanup at Arekere Reserve Forest continues

​The incredible forest

Please join the Arekere (Dorsani Palya) Reserve Forest team on Sunday, 29th June 2014 at 7:00 a.m. The task at hand will be to continue cleaning up from where the volunteers stopped last week. For the exact location, please see the earlier post here. Children are most welcome to go along with their parents/ grandparents. 

Mr Saravanan, who is coordinating the cleanup efforts, had this to say about the start they made on 21st June:

It is quite interesting to see our first baby steps towards this cleanup drive. It was a successful and motivating event with remarkable response not only from our volunteers but also from public. There were about 40-50 people collected close to 35 bags of garbage.

Our sincere thanks to Dushyant, Sujatha, Arathi, Selvakumar, Usha & Manjunath, who put lot of efforts behind the scene. Also, special thanks go to Hariprasad representing forest department. Not to miss, enthusiastic Vishal showed real forest warden skills.   The list will go on and on....in nutshell.... THANK YOU ALL.

Words from Sanjay about this event:
It's said that Cleanliness is next to Godliness, and Nature is God... so we got a double deal last Saturday morning when we went to clean the forest. Though I must confess that much like the Indian police in a Bollywood movie, I went after everything was over, but managed to catch some of the volunteers before they went home.  It was a really lovely gathering with people of all ages and plenty of ladies too, enjoying hot steaming delicious idlis soaked in tasty chutney. There was a huge pile of garbage bags as evidence of all the work of that morning. 

​Some of the volunteers

The garbage

A yahoo group <dpfr_blr@yahoogroups.com> has been formed to keep the team in touch. If you would like to volunteer for Arekere Forest or stay posted about the cleanup progress, please subscribe to the group by email <dprf_blr-subscribe@yahoogroups.com> or get in touch with Saravanan <saravanan_ss@yahoo.com>.

Thanks to Saravanan for the pics.   

Volunteers required - Arekere (Dorsani Palya) Reserve Forest

The Arekere Reserve Forest is located in Arekere-Mico Layout (off Bannerghatta Rd), near Puttenahalli Lake. It is home to several species of birds, butterflies and other life forms. Information on the efforts to get it cleaned can be found on our blog post here.

Please see the message from Mr Saravanan, the coordinator of the clean up effort.

-------------

Hi All,

We have the following events scheduled as part of forest restoration at Dorsani Palya Reserve Forest.

1. Cleaning the reserve forest scheduled on 21/06/2014 (Saturday) at 7 am onwards
2. Neighborhood campaign following Saturday (28/06/2014).

Your participation along with kids, friends and colleagues will encourage outdoor activities. This will also give you an opportunity to share your ideas/suggestions.

Thank you,   
Saravanan

To confirm your participation and for more info, please mail Saravanan <saravanan_ss@yahoo.com>.

This is to make arrangements for refreshments. 

Four years of PNLIT

Four years ago on this day, four people were waiting at the sub-registrar's office in JP Nagar to get a trust deed registered. Along with them, two others, who were to sign as witnesses. They were well prepared, having drafted the document themselves, getting it reviewed by the sub-registrar office clerks a couple of days earlier, carefully printing it, with all the papers that they had been told to bring. However, given the reputation that the sub-registrar offices have, it would be wrong to say that they were not worried about being put in an uncomfortable spot at some stage. It took but an hour or so. They were done... mugshots, signatures and all, and with the satisfaction that it was a "clean" effort. PNLIT was born! From 4 we are now 400+ (likes on Facebook!) and growing. 

​Puttenahalli Lake, June 2010 (on the cover of Citizen Matters, July 2010)

​Puttenahalli Lake, June 2014 (Pic: Nupur Jain)

Don't miss the long-surviving date palm on the island, which is PNLIT's logo, representing resilience and perseverance.  

The past four years have been very eventful, as you will have realised, through first hand experiences at the lake, participation in PNLIT's activities and the regular emails/ blog updates we send out. There have been bouquets of joy and pools of sorrow, quite literally! Yes, the trees planted four years ago are blooming. 

For those of us who have been closely involved with PNLIT, the learning has been tremendous, and as varied as it can get (ranging from technology to finance to human resource management to education to governance to just common sense!). The support received from various quarters has been critical in meeting challenges as they appeared, and working around unforeseen situations.

Sincere thanks to BBMP and other government authorities, staff, donors, volunteers, vendors and everyone else who has made the four years totally worth it! 

There is much still to be done. PNLIT meets the expenses for the upkeep of Puttenahalli Lake and for its other activities, mainly through donations received from the public. PNLIT is recognised as a charity and donations are exempt u/s 80G of the IT Act. With almost no administrative expenses, you can be sure that your money is well spent. If you would like to support a charity, do consider PNLIT. For details on how you can donate and help please click here. 

We look forward to your continued support in transforming Puttenahalli Lake from the dump that it was, into a secure ecosystem and a place of serenity for all of us. More info on PNLIT and Puttenahalli Lake on our website www.puttenahallilake.in.

   

===================

Arathi Manay ಆರತಿ ಮಾನೆ

Trustee, PNLIT

Water in the lake again!

The recent heavy rains in Bangalore have resulted in quite a bit of water finding its way into Puttenahalli Lake, quenching the thirst of the cracking lake bed. Something like a full bottle's water getting poured into one's throat, after a long harsh summer outing. 

As a part of the summer regimen, workmen have been deweeding, and a lot of the water weeds have been taken out. The green around is looking lush. 

For those who do not live in the Puttenahalli Lake vicinity, here are some recent pictures.

6-Jun-2014 Before completion of deweeding

6-Jun-2014 Deweeding in progress

​9-Jun-2014 Lake after deweeding

Pics by Nupur Jain. More pics can be seen here.

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Convert your shopping to donation for Puttenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust When you shop on our partner stores Amazon.in or Flipkart.com using these email-links, Puttenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust earns 1% of your purchases as donation from Gudville. You can track this donation and also how your impact grows every time you shop.