Take the lake back

Water bodies across the country have been filled up for residential space but has anyone even thought about the creatures who survive in water? Such is the fate of the once serene Kapra Lake, once a hotspot for flora and fauna that now lies in utter neglect.

“The lake saw a huge real estate boom in the last decade and thanks to local political leaders, no one came to its rescue. More than half of the original lake has been concretised. If that was not bad enough, residents of those popped up buildings made it their dumping ground,” says C.S. Chandrashekar, president, Sai Baba Officer’s Colony, who has taken up the challenge to revive the lake. He goes around his colony and the nearby areas to educate people about cleanliness and requesting them to not use the lake basin as a dumping ground.

The lake has also drawn the attention of the Environmentalist Foundation of India (EFI), who has taken up the responsibility to clean the lake. Arjun Arya, a co-founder of EFI, says, “There is lots to do at the lake. We started cleaning it in 2012 when you could see only a thick layer of hyacinth and garbage. The present sight is much better. But the process has to continue.”

Students and residents pitch in every alternate Sunday to clean the lake.

But does it take four long years to clean a lake? “Since we took up the challenge, the government changed and a lull period followed. The government has a lot of rules and regulations to follow; loads of permissions and paperwork from various departments needs to be in place. It takes years just to get dredging permission from the Irrigation Department,” explains Arjun.

Arjun adds that they have been raising awareness to get help to clean the lake. “We are trying to rope in various schools and corporates to volunteer and to raise awareness so that the government too takes a note of it and makes it a priority to clean the lake,” he says.

Both Sai Baba Officer’s Colony’s residents and EFI organise a cleaning up process every alternate Sunday. Bhavan’s Sri Ramakrishna Vidyalaya, Sainikpuri, too, occasionally sends its students to give a hand in the clean up. “We the residents have joined hands for Mission Kapra. We are trying to educate the people about the geography of the lake. It is not merely a water body, it needs inlets and outlets. After all these cleaning process, you will still find construction debris and garbage making its way to here,” says Pankaj Sethi, another resident.

“We hope Kapra Lake clean up becomes our first successful project in Hyderabad. Given the permission, we can clean the lake with machines pretty quickly. But at the same time we need people to be sensitive and join hands,” adds Arjun.

So, is there a light at the end of the tunnel? “We are slowly but steadily getting things done. The lake area has been fenced and the GHMC has positioned garbage cans outside the area for the residents. We hope that the government will include Kapra Lake in its Mission Kakatiya Programme, under which they have identified lakes for restoration,” Chandrasekar says.