Citizens' role in saving lakes on display

The city lakes have borne years of neglect and rampant pollution. Fortunately, some of these lakes are being revived by the active involvement of citizens.

In an effort to highlight this active participation and initiatives taken by the citizens to revive and restore lakes across the city 'Celebrating the Urban Commons', was kicked off  by Azim Premji University at Rangoli Art centre in MG Road on Friday.   The event is a three-day photo exhibition coupled with talks and lake walks.

The exhibition displays photographs by Arati Kumar Rao, an artist and a writer, depicting various facets of people's association with lakes. From a photograph poignantly  showing  the lakes being polluted with landfills to a picture of people offering pooja and conducting a 'Deepotsava' by lighting thousands of lamps near the lake.

The exhibition also depicts how volunteers of Puttenahalli Neighbourhood Lake Improvement Trust (PNLIT) and residents near Puttenahalli Lake took initiative to restore the lake. "The lake has been restored with the help of citizens and it is a place where a lot of birds and fish thrive," said a representative of the Trust.

The  three-day event includes a talk by noted singer T M Krishna on 'Liberating Urban Commons' at Alliance Francaise de Bangalore on November 25 and a walk around Kaikondrahalli Lake on November 26 to explore the unknown world  of insects around the lake.

Preeti Venkataram, a representative of Azim Premji University said that they have received a great response to the photo exhibition on the first day.