The lakes of Mysuru, many of which are on the verge of disappearance thanks to the neglect of the authorities, can now expect to be revived by the industry under their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative.
While the Hebbal lake and Bommanahalli lake had already been taken up for restoration by Infosys and Reserve Bank of India (RBI) respectively, two more lakes — Thipparayanakere and Tavarekattekere — were added to the list under a programme taken up by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Mysuru, in association with the district administration. With the Centre making it mandatory for large companies to spend at least 2% of their net profit on CSR activities, CII, Mysuru, said they were channelising the spend for conservation of lakes among things.
“Lakes are an important part of urban ecosystem performing significant environmental, social, and economic functions like being a source of drinking water, recharging groundwater, and acting as sponges to control flooding and supporting biodiversity,” said Immediate Past President of CII, Mysuru, N. Muthukumar. Unfortunately, most of the lakes in Mysuru were suffering from pollution, encroachment, sewage discharge, dumping of garbage, among others.
CII, Mysuru, said the restoration of Thipparayanakere, spread across 10 acres, had been taken up by the Automotive Axles Ltd., at a cost of ₹30 lakh, while Tavarekattekere will be restored by Ranga Rao and Sons at a cost of ₹20-22 lakh. Thipparayanakere and Tavarekattekere are both located in the vicinity of Chamundi Hills. The restoration work of Thipparayanakere was formally kicked off earlier this week by Joint Director of District Industries Centre (DIC) Ramakrishne Gowda and Tahsildar Suresh Babu performing the “Guddali Pooja”, the work on Tavarekattekere is scheduled to start by the end of the week. Of the estimated 25 lakes in and around Mysuru, CII, Mysuru, said they had identified as many 15 lakes for restoration under its Project Mysuru Water Positive. “By 2021, we want to conserve most of the lakes of Mysuru,” a CII representative said.
With regard to Thipparayanakere, Mr. Ramakrishne Gowda said the silt, which has been accumulating since decades, had led to poor water storage capacity in the tank in spite of Chamundi Hills providing excelling catchment area.
As part of the rejuvenation efforts, the lake is expected to rid the sewage and silt, besides have fences erected, and encroachments removed. The surrounding of the lake will feature ornamental plants, gardens, and sitting and walking area.
The water table in areas surrounding Thipparayanakere like Lalithadripura, Alanahalli and Nandanahalli had dipped beyond 300 ft and many borewells in the region had failed. “Once the lake is rejuvenated, it will benefit a large number of people and also recharge the groundwater,” Mr. Muthukumar said.
Chairman of CII, Mysuru, Arjun Ranga said creation of a healthy ecosystem by saving the lakes was one of the most effective ways to solve the problems arising out of consecutive droughts and depletion of groundwater table. “A few companies have shown active interest and efforts are under way in bringing many more under the same umbrella so that substantial benefits and robust brand image is created for Mysuru,” Mr. Ranga added.
