BENGALURU: The work to develop Puttenahalli lake near Yelahanka New Town into a bird conservation reserve is set to formally begin on Wednesday.To begin with, a diversion channel would be put in place to ensure sewage water from surrounding areas does not flow into the water body. Forest department officials said this would ensure that water is purified to a large extent before being let into the lake. The arrangement would last until the BWSSB starts a sewage treatment plant in the area.
A notification rolled out by the state government back in 2015 had declared this “Puttenahalli Lake Birds Conservation Reserve” for its ecological, fauna, flora and geomorphological importance and for the purpose of protecting the environment around the water body.Even as the complete project is being done at an estimated `12 crore, `8 crore is set aside for core activities, said Gitika Bajpai, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Bengaluru Urban According to the forest, environment and ecology departments, Puttenahalli lake is home to several species of birds like darters, painted storks, black-crowned night herons, purple herons, pond herons, egrets, Asian open bill storks, Eurasian spoonbills, spot-tilled pelican, little grebe, little cormorant spot-billed ducks, purple moorhen and other water-birds.
This lake is also an abode for endangered and migratory bird species from the Northern Himalayas and Siberia, many of which are listed under threatened category of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).Bajpai said that the lake development would happen from the scratch. “We will begin by ensuring that sewage water is treated before being allowed into the lake. Then there will be de-weeding and desludging of the lake. This would be completed by February 2018,” she said.
Following this, the lake would be beautified. A walking path would be constructed around the lake, artificial islands would be created and bird hides would be set up.