Family Gardening Day at the Lake - July 7th @ 9:30am

"Bringing the community together" gardening sessions at the lake will take place on July 7th.

As we had announced earlier, the first Saturday of the month is open to you to exercise your green thumb; to introduce your children to gardening; to work together with your family; to destress; to discover the small pleasures of plants; to be one with nature, and more.   

At June's Family Gardening Day

Make the most of your neighbourhood lake.  Join us on Sat. 7th July between 9.30 a.m. and 11 a.m. for the Family Fun Gardening Saturday.

No registration required. Just come and have fun!

Update on the Arekere Forest meeting and discussions

The Resident – Arekere Forest Officials meeting on 24^th May 2014 as previously announced went well. It was well attended by about 50 to 60 residents of the neighborhood.

Residents were invited to voice their opinions on what they wanted the Reserve Forest to be and how they in turn could help the Forest Department (FD).

The suggestions coming forth from the residents were as follows:

• ·       That the place should be well secured from all sides to prevent encroachments.

o   FD's answer: No encroachments will be allowed.

• ·         More vigilance for the safety of walkers.
• ·         That there should be more lights and sitting benches.

o   FD: Yes for more benches.

• ·         There should be toilets for public.
• ·         Walking path all around the inner periphery of the Reserve.
• ·         Should make it a good biodiversity area by growing indigenous plants and trees.
• ·         Should try to install bird nesting boxes

  Staff of FD made notes of all that was suggested.

  Next Steps

1.       Residents of the area should come together to clean the place of plastic waste.

2.       Perhaps focus group to be formed to address different aspects as:

a.       Water related issues.

b.      Regeneration of Native species of plants, bushes and trees.

c.       General upkeep of the place.

d.      Amenities related matters, etc.

3.       From the Forest Dept side Mr. Hariprasad who is a Forest Dept staff was deputed by the Chief Conservator of Forests (CCF) to be the coordinator of all future initiatives.

At the end of the discussions the CCF suggested that a group be formed to take this forward, and thus 12 (6 from ladies and 6 from men) person's names have been included in the informal group.

It was also pointed out by the FD official that it is a Forest Reserve and hence it was not realistic to expect all the amenities that are  normally found in a public parks or gardens.

Previous communication on this can be seen here.

Prasanna

Report on Volunteers' work at the lake, Sunday 9th June 2013

It was one hectic morning for the twenty or more volunteers who came to the lake today morning. Coming from South City, Brigade Millennium, Brigade Gardenia, Ramaiah Apartments (behind Sobha Tulip), J.P. Nagar 7th Phase, 24th Main, etc., they reinforced the meaning of the "Neighbourhood" in our Puttenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust. Meera coming from Banashankari extended the "neighourhood" some more! It is indeed incredible how concern about and involvement with the Puttenahalli Lake is bringing everybody together. Transporting the dead tree from South City to the lake bed proved this amply.

Four or five men volunteers walked down to South City to size up the tree. It was a little too heavy for them to carry. Fortunately though, just as we were returning to the lake, we saw a tractor unloading soil at the entrance. The driver very kindly brought the tree in the tractor to the lake thus saving us a great deal of trouble. Our volunteers carried it from the tractor along the walking path and, at the assigned spot, heaved it over the grill and down the slope. The tree tumbled and landed neatly at the lake bed still intact. From there to the waterline was another short stretch but it still took some effort all right. Within 15 minutes we'd accomplished our mission - provided aquatic birds with a beautiful perch. According to veteran ornithologist, Dr. S. Subramanya, it is like giving rich chocolate cake to children. :-)

While this set of volunteers was busy with the dead tree, others were busy sprucing up the space on either side of the new picket gate. By 9 a.m., the ground was cleared of plastic to the extent possible and rich red soil spread. Gardener Kumar began putting in stakes and by evening he will cordon the area. Next weekend, we'll complete planting here and move on to the next step towards transforming our neighbourhood, people's lake. We are looking to plant a flower border with three plant species in different colours and heights - Rasna (Alpinia calcarata Rox), a medicinal herb which grows up to 1.8 to 2.5 m in height, Tincture plant (Collinsia tinctoria), a low level plant in gorgeous shades of purple and multi-coloured Lantana.

 

A big thanks to all especially to teenager Kanha who cleared the dirtiest part of the area, right behind the garbage dump showing not the least trace of revulsion. As long as there are children like him and volunteers like all those who slaved today, there's hope that our neighbourhood will soon be a better, cleaner place!

Usha