Bangalore students raise voice for city lakes

Bangalore students raise voice for city lakes

NDTV

The lakes in the city of Banglaore really act like the lungs for the city but not much is being done by authorities to help protect these lakes.

On the occasion of world environment day students in the Varthur area came together to do their bit to save the Varthur lake.

The human chain was not to protest against the reservation issue that gripped the country in the past few days but a simple plea by school students of the Varthurkodi area to ask the authorities to save a lake near their school.

"It's now been polluted by dumping and other such activities," said Arif Ullah Khan, student, KK High school.

"These students are going to be the future of this world. We are really living on borrowed times. They are going to be responsible citizens of the future and if we educate them then maybe when they grow up they will protect the environment," said AK Khan, Principal, KK High school.

Losing battle

The Varathur Lake like many other lakes in Bangalore is fighting a losing battle. The main problems faced by the lake are that of sewage inflow from the neighbouring Bellandur lake and land encroachment.

This area is a land fill which is actually meant to be used as a paddy field but has been given by the Bangalore Development authority to a private construction agency for the construction of a residential complex, a situation that can perhaps be extended to most other lakes in the city of Bangalore.

Bangalore had 260 lakes in the 1960s. Today the number of lakes in the city has shrunk to just 64. The depleting number of lakes is in fact one of the main reasons for the massive floods that the city witnessed last year.