HYDERABAD: Several citizen groups, in the run-up to World Environment Day, took up the cleaning of five major lakes in the city on Sunday. As part of the effort, four lakes in the West Zone — the Manikonda Lake, Chakalivani Lake, Kudikunta Lake, and Nallangandala Lake — were cleaned up by a group of 400 to 500 people. In the North Zone, meanwhile, the Kapra Lake’s immersion pond — that had turned into a dump yard — was also cleaned up city denizens.
Different citizen groups, such as, the Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI), Sahe Foundation, Nallagandala Residents Group, Green Sainikpuri, along with city’s civic body GHMC, undertook the clean-up. The motive was to tidy up the lake’s vicinity, in a bid to get the government to undertake its larger rejuvenation by diverting the sewage lines.
“We gathered around the lakes early in the morning and used basic tools to clean up their surroundings. While the larger issue of sewage entering into lake continues to exist, we did our best to ensure that the surroundings are kept clean,” said Jasmine Singh, a volunteer at Manikonda.
In all, the volunteers managed to clear up roughly 5-6 tonnes of garbage from the lakes. “A lake can be restored only through a community initiative like this. Such a drive not only ensures cleaning up of the lake but also creates a psychological impact on the hazards of single-use plastic. Once a volunteer knows what is going in and around the lake, he or she would automatically reduce its usage,” said Arjun Arya, a researcher at Environmentalist Foundation of India.
Meanwhile, the residents living around the Kudi Kunta Lake also joined the groups to get their lake cleaned up. “Lakes are a very dynamic part of the community and require constant maintenance. With this effort we want to make the community familiar with lake clean-ups and sensitise them for the long haul,” said Kalpana Ramesh, leader of water conservation NGO, SAHE. Volunteers said that most of the accumulated waste included polythene bags, thermocol, glass bottles and nylon ropes — all of which are recyclable.