Girl takes on lake mafia, campaigns to save Veerasandra Lake

Bengaluru: When Rashmi Srinivas, an intern with Students for Development, an NGO, was told she'd need to visit the Veerasandra Lake in Electronics City as part of a project, the 20-year-old thought a pristine waterbody would greet her. But the BSc student from BMS College was shocked to see construction debris and weeds taller than her cover the whole area, with little sign of water.

"I walked around the lake boundary looking for some water in what was supposed to be 8 acres of lake. Though I finally spotted some water, I came back with an image that I had least expected; the waterbody was almost dead," she recalled.

The 30-day internship continued for a year-and-a-half, and what was meant to be a simple report on the status of the lake soon turned into a campaign to rejuvenate and save it.

On Saturday, Rashmi will release a documentary on the Veerasandra Lake at the Idea Conclave for Better Bengaluru, being held at Christ University. The documentary aims to raise awareness about the lake and raise funds through CSR initiatives to save it.

"I grew up right next to the Pinakini river in Gauribidanur. I grew up seeing the power of the river during monsoon, when it'd be high enough to cover the bridge across the river. It's been over five years since I saw that sight. I know how drought is affecting people and I understand the importance of water," said Rashmi, as she explained why she took up the cause of this lake.

Only on speaking to residents living in the vicinity of the lake that this youngster realize how massive the problem was. "Though these people live right next to a lake, they suffer due to acute water scarcity. The stink from the sewage that is let into the lake is unbearable. The waterbody has no fencing and teachers and parents in the area are worried that students might fall into lake," she said.

On her eighth visit to the lake, Rashmi noticed a board announcing BMRC would take care of the lake.

Over the next few months, Rashmi visited the lake and the people around it regularly. "After a couple of visits, a few men stopped me when they noticed I was speaking to the locals. They wanted to know who I was and why I was so concerned about the lake. They said it wouldn't be good for me to continued what I was doing. I handled the situation saying I was a school student," she said.

While the threats didn't deter Rashmi, they opened her eyes to the mafia that existed around lakes.

Rashmi started attending meetings called by KSPCB on lake revival, but soon realized the talks mostly revolved around Bellandur, Varthur and, occasionally, Horamavu lake.

"I realized we needed more people to come forward to monitor lakes and report problems to government agencies. This was particularly because parties with vested interests wanted to kill these waterbodies,," she said.

While Rashmi may have embarked on this journey all alone, today she has 25 other students fighting alongside her for the same cause.

"The work has only begun. All we have done is document the lake in the form of a movie so that we can draw people's attention. We realized that no one really cared about reports and barely even read them. We are hoping on this documentary, more people will come forward with CSR funding to save the lake," said Rashmi.

Some food for thought from Idea Conclave for Better Bengaluru

* TV Ramachandra | coordinator, energy and wetlands group, IISc

There was a time when Bengaluru had eight trees for every person. Today, this has reduced to one tree for seven people. We need to save trees and waterbodies because there's proof that these bring down temperature by at least two degrees. It's possible to reduce the amount of waste; only about 8% of the total waste generated cannot be reused or recycled.

* YB Ramakrishna | chairman, Working group on biofuels, ministry of petroleum and natural gas, Government of India

Bengaluru once had over 700 interconnected lakes. This has now come down to around 150 lakes. Rain in Bengaluru has remained largely consistent over the decades. But, in recent years, we are seeing increasing cases of flooding in the city. This is because there's no place for the water to go. Low-lying areas, some of which once used to be lakes, have now been encroached upon. While the city has grown by leaps and bounds, we are unable to meet the needs of the city as against its growing population.

* Ramesh Shivaram | Forward Foundation

What is missing in our city is respect for the people. We never think of how much responsibility we are taking. We have lots to do before we ask the government to do something for us.

* Chandrashekar Hariharan | urban expert

Sixty-five percent of India's population is under 35. A lot of things that the generation of the 80s took for granted won't even exist for the younger generation. We cannot depend on the government. In a few years, we cannot even depend on the city's infrastructure, be it water or other resources. We are the only ones who can shape our future by identifying and working with people who think on the same lines

* Ashwin Mahesh | urban expert

It's not true that more people coming to the city makes it worse. We need to stop imagining that preventing people from other states from coming into the city will solve its problems. What's important is that we work as a community; we cannot wait for the government to do everything. Democracy isn't like a consumer organization. You cannot leave it to the government to fix it saying we have paid taxes or we have elected you. You have to be involved. Successful cities have a greater number of problem solvers. If we aren't contributing to solutions, we are part of the problem. Decide not to be a part of the problem. Citizens are a necessary glue for collaboration with government

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