On Friday afternoon, nearly 100 employees of a pharmaceutical company stepped into the lake bed of Ranganna Kunta and began its clean-up by pulling out the grass, and shrubs that lined the lake edge and stuffed it in black plastic bags. After some time, small plastic water bottles began to be passed around. After two hours, the activity was complete with a mandatory photo-op.
“Pulling out grass and other shrubs that line the shoreline is an absolute no-no. There are some weeds like Parthenium that need to be removed, but the small plants and grass help the birds camouflage as well as provide food,” says Tejdeep Kaur Menon of Telangana State Special Protection Force who has led several clean-up efforts in different lakes of the city. She suggests some counselling and training before the volunteers get into the water.
“The volunteers need to take precautions. When we do carry out clean-up operations in Ameenpur lake, the volunteers go into the water wearing rubber tubes tied with ropes. We ask the fishermen in the area to be on standby as they know the lake very well. Many of the lakes in Hyderabad have snakes,” says Ms. Tejdeep.
Lake cleaning might appear like an excellent afternoon activity where young men and women wearing gloves and masks reach the lake bed or step into the lake water to retrieve plastic waste, polystyrene foam, discarded tyres and other domestic and commercial waste.
‘Awareness growing’
“We do a counselling session before the volunteers get into the water body. Nowadays, many people are becoming aware of the water crisis and want to help. About 90% of the greens on the shoreline help in the remediation of water. What we need to pull out of water is plastic and other inorganic debris,” says Kalpana Ramesh who has been working towards creating awareness about saving water bodies in the city.
Armed with Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds, many companies bring their employees who plunge into the job at hand with good-natured bonhomie. “CSR activity should be done with community involvement. I always ensure that the community gets involved, otherwise it is a one-off exercise with little utility,” says Ms. Kalpana.
Change visible
The change a community involvement can bring has to be seen at Ranganna Kunta in Kondapur. “During summer, the lake was cleaned by the residents of Jagruthi Colony. All the people got involved, and even hired earth-movers to deepen the lake. Now, it is four times deeper than it was earlier and it is cleaner as well,” says Om Prakash, who runs a shop near the two-acre lake which has survived urbanisation.
