Neglected lake to Bird sanctuary.

Remember Piyush?
So he is back in full action (ok, a hand tied, due to an accident he had recently, but that cant stop him, we know!) and this time its my pet area too. Water body! But Piyush’s speed is different, you know.
He, during some conversation with the collector, offered to clean the periphery of a lake (50+ acres) called mookeneri lake, involving students and public. This appealed to the collector to sensitise the water body. So Piyush got some 700 people and cleaned a major area around the lake a month back, some 45 days back to be more accurate!
Then he got the collector more involved and asked him to let this evolve with public participation in to a bird sanctuary. The collector liked the idea but suspected the modus operandi. Piyush explained (am sure with lotsa pumped gas, as I know him and great picture he wud have painted with consummate ease)
And asked for written approval from him thru the PWD (which is the authority). Ofcourse who ever owned this lake (from the govt side), as usual hasn’t bothered to even desilt it for last 60 years.
That’s also the reason for no encroachment, IMHO.
So here our man gets in to mobilizing people once the PWD and govt said ok.
But that’s the difference between this small devil and others. The pace at which he will move things and get work done, even if the collector has a rethinking, a major part wud be done before he can wink and frame one sentence.
So our man goes about desilting, getting some JCB and other machines at work- full speed.
When he called me and apprised me of this and asked me to come over to have a look, I said, I shall see it next time I travel that side. And typical of him he pressed me to come over immediately if I wanted to see from scratch. And believe me from the time I spoke to him and 48 hours, so much had been accomplished there!
There were thes huge craters he digs as a part of desilting and creates the huge soil masses which will eventually become huge islands. On top of each island shall come some 200-300 bamboo tress and few huge trees (like peepal, banyan, cherry etc ) which shall attract birds.
The circumference of each island shall be 350-450 feet. Imagine some huge circular islands and some rope bridges connecting them with water alla round and kids going there to camp and educate themselves on environment/ecology.
The plan itself is not anything new, but the pace and the way he starts off without any money even and in the process goes about collecting is typical Piyush. Ofcourse there is a big team out there, a big public participation (esp now with his recent arrest, he has won so much sympathy that he has won so many more supporters!)

Wait! Here was a man who fought and singlehandedly closed a couple of mines around. So if he were to dig from lake site will the politico-corporate nexus not pounce? That was my thinking bcos the right to allow any one to desilt and btake the mud/soil lies with Directorate of Mines. That’s where there is huge chance for lethargy, apathy, no-will-or-action and corruption. So now if he were to take, I cudnt stop imagining..and he coolly says “that’s why I never allowed one tipper to enter here. We will excavate and pile up here itself. So no one can point their finger”. Very clever, me thinks. So that’s piyush. Already eco clubs of schools involved, many leading citizens involved, noted public figures vested with some responsibilities and hence a cool team set up which shall turn this ignored and neglected lake in to a big water body and more than that a special bird sanctuary.
Hats off piyush! Again!!
Keep going..let some rub on people like us and lets be inspired to achieve atleast a small percentage.
And BTW, Thanks for doing this Piyush! An eco restoration worth its salt err water.

for some fotos, bad ones from my mobile, go here.

Note: many of u asked me what happened to his case after that arrest! Strangely nothing! Absolutely nothing!! Yes, the police have no case prolly, so no charge sheet filed as of now. This clearly indicates that had nothing else other than malice and vendetta- in the form of pressure from some political cohort or lout.

Adyar poonga

We all know that Settlements historically have always been along water ways...we also know that in the recent past (4-5 decades) mankind has screwed up the waterways-by encroaching water ways and waterbodies ignoring the fact their dependence on these very water bodies. If its not encroached then we have dumped - effluents, debris and what not? So there is a Pressing need for sincere and urgent revival of waterways and lost ecology around them.
One such step towards eco-restoration and sustainability is Adyar Poonga in the heart of Chennai.
This is a 58 acre land which was abused by the urbans (fruits of development & urbanization!) to dump all their wastes! Hmm..wastes in to water body..that too in a creek, estuary..the loss? The flora & fauna- typical estuarine birds and aquatic, semi aquatic lives.
This poonga project apart from the 10s of 1000s of varieties of tress that have been planted will also bring back saline ecosystem like the crabs, insects and fish. So a whole gamut of flora and fauna surfaces to its old glory in the famous Adyar creek:-)
The man behind all this is Joss Brooks- the same aurovillian, who did a great recovery at pitchandikulam forest! More on that here.
Iam amazed at this man’s passion, energy and great work in the few times I have met him since couple of weeks. Its fascinating to know that he has tons of knowledge and more importantly executing this project with such finesse and ease covering all aspects- beauty, nature, walkways, enviro friendly, sustainable, community involved, Govt minus bribes and this list gets bigger & bigger.
The estuary part that has seen some recovery already has some unique birds showing up. There has been quite some species spotted here these days.
Many school kids come here to get an environment initiation. There is a cute little exhibition and his team of able players like Dr.Karim and Preston add so much value. Another very striking aspect of this project is the involvement of the Govt arms in a very professional manner and the community too.
Iam thrilled at the prospect of pitching some things here..I wish to really steal as much time as possible and invest here.it worth every bit of it..its already a great place in my opinion..and to leave such a show case of a park/garden for the next gen is unbelievable..
For more info see here
So a new association starts for me..hope to get more info here as things progress..
BTW this is open to public only from Nov 2010. so wait till then except when I call you for some tree planting or such like programs out here.

Some progress that!

Update 1: oops, i forgot to mention the most important in the list of to-dos. We should first stop dumping in the water bodies, esp by the govt bodies themselves.
Update 2: some one reminded me of another important feat wasnt mentioned here. I would do that only after that activity is completed. as this involves a govt body, i cant count the chick now.

Regulars here know my passion for water bodies and the attempt to restore one big lake near my house on the south Madras suburbs. I have been involved in trying to wrest this lake from human and official apathy..it has been one hell of a running around..I did write about it here and here. So from the collector to the PWD officials to local authorities to locals (affected citizens) it was pure apathy..
But don’t u think something should rub on after meeting with so many good souls..
The PWD which is the official stake holder in this was my target. They are, infact, for all huge lakes (> 100 acres ones). The top bureaucrat an IAS officer and one of the top executives were very receptive (that is after some 50 fones and 10 tries to meet in person). Still for someone to move in a positive and enviro sympathetic direction is such a rarity these days. Now we slowly tried and moved the dept to take cognizance of the problem and to move towards a solution.
For someone who wants to wrest a water body, here is a to do list:
- involve locals heavily. Sensitise, then take some signature campaign and circulate to collector, localbodies, local bigwigs, dept’s biggies to locals, all and sundry. (on seeing lotsa signatures people assume theres a big junta behind, where as most people will only sign and think that’s the best they can do)
- Keep moving the copies of the petition everywhere
- Meet the media and there are some eco friendly guys out there(though rare) who may write about the present state. (some column lines for them!)
- A set of core volunteers who can incessantly push for this ca(u)se
- Identify a couple of officers who can really take some steps. Then bombard them with info and ideas and shower praises till they catch cold and make them move.
- Once they show some inclination, take initiative and rush lots more steps in all directions possible and without antagonizing any of the govt bodies (but making them all feel they are doing it actually) and continue at a pace they will all just watch or before they react there should be a fair amount of movement.
- Now when we have done the initial repairs and some progress in a the 1st few of our “must do” list, now go back and slowly push the rest to each of the govt arm and goad them to proceed.
Here in our lake we are in this last step..so more on that later.
Normally iam very conservative esp in evaluation of my own achievement. I tend to underplay my role and accomplishments. But this is one rare occasion I felt, hey u did something buddy! Pat pat..seriously am tired.
Lemme go and celebrate
or rest?