PNLIT Update

The last update sent a month ago had expressed hope that the BWSSB and BBMP would soon complete their work to protect the lake from sewage. Covid-19 scotched this. Eight migrant workers continue to stay at the site premises but are unable to work because the rest of their team are confined in their homes. Will they be able to finish before the monsoon? 

Following the BBMP Commissioner's order, the lake has been made inaccessible to the public. 

Six weeks into our donation drive, we raised a decent amount of Rs. 6.23 lakhs. It is way below our target of Rs. 10 lakhs.  A couple of weeks ago, a well wisher had generously offered to match donations to an amount of Rs. One lakh. However, with everybody's concern centering around the virus and the lock down, we didn't think it was right to inform residents about this kind offer and ask them to donate to the upkeep of the lake. 

When the all clear is announced and life returns to normal, we will have to grapple with the shortfall. Our biggest expense is staff salaries. They are so dedicated, that they have been coming early in the morning to water the plants. For their safety, we have asked them to come to work once in two or three days. Moreover, we need to be careful about how much we spend on water because, with the lake long gone dry, we are forced to get tankers and they are so expensive! 

Earlier this week, we got to know that some families living on the lake bund were in desperate need for provisions. With PNLIT volunteer Sapana Rawat taking the lead and roping in Deepubai, our former student (http://plog.puttenahallilake.in/2015/05/our-triumphant-trio.html), we gave coupons to 40 families to redeem at Srilakshmi Stores in Arekere bus stand and collect 10 kgs of rice, 2 kgs of tuvar dal and one liter of cooking oil each. We extended the benefit to our gardeners, sweeper and the eight labourers of BBMP and BWSSB stranded at the lake. We spent Rs. 24,200 on this and are happy we were able to help 173 people in these harsh times! 

Be Safe. Stay Indoors. Above all, Respect Mother Earth!

Puttenahalli Lake Update

It's customary to give the good news first but I will reserve them for the end. The bad news is that response to our fund drive is extremely disappointing. In three weeks our collection is only Rs. 75,000 as against a target of Rs. Ten Lakhs! We fervently hope that your generosity will resurface as the financial year comes to an end. Our optimism and drive have seen us overcome one challenge after another. Will we see through this? The answer lies with you, folks! Our Puttenahalli lake is in your hands. 

Now for the good news, ever so many but here are the top ones!

1) The most important one is that BWSSB has diverted the sewage at Aradhana Layout. It no longer enters the lake!  

New chamber

2) After a see saw of "Will the slum dwellers allow BWSSB to replace the underground pipeline or will they stay the work?" BWSSB has got their act together it seems. They began by digging a chamber in the pathway yesterday and are in the process of concretizing it, as even as I write this. Were they spurred by a report in the Hindu dated 2nd March 2020? 

3) Two plants flowered for the first time and sparked off a debate between Nupur and me about which one is better! Her favourite is the Orange trumpet vine (Pyrostegia venusta) and mine is the Mickey Mouse Plant (Ochna serrulata). You can decide which of the two you prefer but psst.... mine got its name because the yellow petals fall off leaving the bright red sepals and fleshy black fruit to make it look just like, well, Mickey Mouse! 

Orange Trumpet flower

Mickey Mouse flower with red sepals

Mickey Mouse flower with yellow petals

4) Talk of ganging up to face a common enemy! Two days ago, we heard commotion in the lake basin and saw two Purple swamphens highly agitated and flapping their wings. Our gardeners said a snake must be going to the nest for the birds' eggs. We couldn't see it because the weeds were tall but other birds rushed to the spot and joined the parent birds to drive the snake away. The allies included another swamphen, three Eurasian coots, two Bronze-winged Jacanas, a Red-wattled lapwing and a White breasted waterhen. The Jacanas and the waterhen are particularly shy birds who scoot from the sight of people and here they were rallying around! They collectively brought the snake into the open. What a very long watersnake it was! And yet, it was no match for the birds. They sent it packing beyond the island and then the parent birds went back to their nest while their friends dispersed. It was truly a magnificent show of strength in numbers. 

Do you want to know how you can rally around to help our lake and its denizens? Click on  http://www.puttenahallilake.in/how-to-donate

Regards

Usha 

Moving forward together

Come June, PNLIT will be ten years old, completing a decade of the nurturing of Puttenahalli Lake! Time has really flown by. 

Residents of the neighbourhood, donors, volunteers, CSR funders - it is with your help that we have been able to maintain the lake and carry out environmental projects and awareness-related activities for ten long years. Your support has made our Puttakere truly a People's Lake and a model for many others in the city. A recent episode feature on Republic TV has catapulted PNLIT to the national level. Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has been a part of our journey.

  

We work closely with the government and, as you would be aware, BBMP and BWSSB are in the process of preventing sewage from entering the lake once and for all. We are also actively pursuing slum rehabilitation. We are close to achieving our goals with transforming the lake. What will be required in the future is regular maintenance by PNLIT and vigilance from the neighbourhood to protect the lake. 

We're almost at the end of FY 2019-20 and we, at PNLIT, have started planning for the new financial year. Our estimated annual expenses for FY 2020-21 are Rs 12.55 lakhs, which we look to raise through individual donations and corporate grants/CSR. 

A grant of Rs. 2,45,000 from Wipro will bring down the target to a little over Rs. 10 lakhs.   

This is an appeal to everyone to donate to PNLIT for our neighbourhood lake - in your individual capacity and/or through your organisation. Do refer us to your CSR department. You will find a dedicated team of lake conservationists in us!

For those seeking income tax exemption under section 80G, this might be your last chance, given the new proposed income tax rules.

In addition to the annual expenses, we are also looking to build up the Corpus Fund, so that in future, the interest earned would meet the annual maintenance expenses to a large extent. Donations to the Corpus Fund will be much appreciated.

There are many ways in which you can make a donation – cheque, cash (up to Rs 2000) and direct transfer. You may also donate through a payment gateway as a last option – avoidable as there are 2% - 3% extra charges involved, and we'd much prefer to directly utilize every rupee you donate. Please visit our web page for details http://www.puttenahallilake.in/how-to-donate.

Together let us nurture and protect our Puttenahalli Puttakere and give our children an increasingly rare gift - a thriving lake.   

“Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.” —Ryunosuke Satoro 

Best regards,

The PNLIT Team

Great news from our volunteer teacher

You may recall that even though our Classes at the Lake programme has ceased, a few of our volunteer teachers continue to help underprivileged children. One of them is Mr. C.S. N. Iyer (read about him here). Two of his earliest students were siblings Pooja and Praveen. Praveen who didn't know a word in English when he began his classes under Mr. Iyer five years ago has scored 91% in the SSLC exam. He has a B in only one subject. Pooja has secured 75% in PUC. Both of them want to study Computer Science. 

Mr. Iyer is trying the children with their college admission and  needs to raise Rs. One lakh twenty thousand (Rs. 1,20,000). It will be great if you can help him and the children. Mr. Iyer's email id is: csniyer77@aol.com.

Regards

Usha 

Appeal for donations to maintain lake FY 2016 - 17

Dear friends,

In 2009 when we decided to save Puttenahalli Lake, we knew the journey would be long and full of challenges. It indeed has been this and more but we stuck to our agenda to - 

• get BWSSB to stop sewage from entering the lake. They diverted it into an underground drain
• find new sources of water to fill the lake. BBMP diverted surface runoff from Brigade Millennium into the lake in 2012; With KSPCB approval treated water from the STP at South City has been flowing into the lake from May 2015. Thanks to the recent rain, for the first time since our involvement, the lake has filled to its optimum capacity and begun to overflow! This was indeed a very cherished moment not just for us, trustees, but for regular visitors to the lake and even passersby. 
• rehabilitate the slum residents. Process is on. 
• get corporate support for major projects in 2016 - 17. 
• VMWare funded the setting up of an irrigation system to water the plants; 
• Bosch to clean and cover a section of the drain at South City side which is the largest source of rain water; 
• Deloitte Shared Services India Private Ltd. funded cleaning the lake. 

The highs and lows of our endeavour have been documented here. You only need to go to the lake to see for yourselves how the lake is thriving. Our journey would not have been possible without infrastructural support from BBMP, fund assistance from our donors (corporate and individuals) and physical help from our volunteers. 

Thanks to Deloitte Shared Services, we will be able to pay Rs.20,000/month to the lake cleaning team till March 2017. However, Companies do not give fund support for operating expenses. We need to pay salaries to our staff, maintain the gardening equipment, buy plants, soil, etc. As in previous years, we need to raise Rs. 6 lakhs to meet our  annual expenditure for 2016 - 17. Please contribute generously to PNLIT.

Donations may be made by cash, cheque, direct remittance or online through donation partners. For details on how to donate, please see here.

If you are making an online payment, please send a screen shot of the transaction and your contact details to enable us to send you the receipt. 

Cheque by post may be sent to our registered office: 

PNLIT, c/o Usha Rajagopalan,
B3, 502, South City, Arekere Mico Layout,
Off Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore 560 076 

Donations are eligible for income tax exemption, u/s 80G of the Income Tax Act (50% deduction from taxable income) 

Looking forward to your generous support to Puttenahalli Lake.

Best

PNLIT Team

Jan 2009

Jul 2016

Lake overflowing into waste weir, 29-Jul-2016

Irrigation pipeline

 

Road drain before and after covering

Yallappa's deweeding team

Puttaswamy's team (regular lake cleaners)

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