2 DECCAN HERALD B Tuesday, September 15, 2009

CMYK

ENGLISHFrozen: Fame Forum Value Mall: 12pm.Dragonball Evolution: Inox MagrathRoad: 10.30 am, 2.30 am, 10 pm; FunCinemas: 10.45 pm; Fame Forum Val-ue Mall: 8 pm.The Unforgettable: Inox MagrathRoad: 10.35 am; PVR Cinemas; Innov-ative: 12 noon; Vision Cinemas: 12.15pm, 3.30 pm, 9 pm, Fame Lido; 10 am,2 pm, 6 pm, 10 pm; Inox MagrathRoad: 12.15 pm, 4.20 pm, 6.40 pm,8.15 pm; Fun Cinemas: 2.45 pm, 7.15pm; Shankar Nag: 4 pm. The Final Destination 4: Inox Ma-grath Road; 2.50 pm, 5 pm, 10.20 pm;Fame Lido: 2.40 pm; Fame Forum Val-ue Mall: 2 pm, 8.15 pm, Fun Cinemas;11 am, 10 pm, Fame Lido: 2.40 pm. Quick Gun Murugan (Eng): InoxJayanagar; 10 am; Inox MagrathRoad: 10.25 am, 3 pm, 8.25 pm; FameForum Value Mall: 10 am, 4.50 pm, 10pm; Fame Lido: 10 am, 9.45 pm; QuickGun Murugan (Hindi): Fun Cinemas:8.05 pm. Taking of Pelham1 2 3: Inox Ma-grath Road: 10.10 am, 5.55 pm. The Ugly Truth: Inox Jayanagar: 10am, 11.50 am, 7.30 pm, 10.10 pm;Inox Magrath Road: 10.20 am, 1.55pm, 3.55 pm, 8.05 pm, 10.05 pm; FunCinemas: 3.50 pm, 6 pm, 9.30 pm;Rex: 11 pm, 12.55 noon, 2.45 pm,7.30 pm; Fame Forum Value Mall: 10am, 12 noon, 4 pm, 6 pm, 10 pm;

Movie Guide

Shankar Nag (Ullas): 10 am, 2 pm, 6pm, 9.55 pm. KANNADABhagyada Balegara: 4 shows: Ka-pali, Vinayaka, Nandini, Siddeshwara,Adarsha, Ullas, Venkateshwara Avala-halli, Maruti, Rajagopalanagara, Srini-vasa Saddeguntepalya, Krishna K RPuram, Rajarajeshwari Mallathalli,Vaibhavi Uttarahalli; Prasanna: MS;Pramod: 4.30 pm, 7.30 pm. Prem Kahani: 4 shows: Triveni,Navrang, Uma: Chamarajpet, Sid-dalingeshwara: JP Nagar, Rajeshwari:Laggere, Vijayalakshmi: Garu-dacharpalya, PVR: Balaji Taverekere,Vijay: Byatarayanpura, Rajmurali:Kodigehalli, Prakash: Yelahanka,Eashwari: Katriguppe, Manasa: Ko-nanakunte, Robin: Kengeri, Gopal:Yeshwantpura, Bharathi: Peenya,Narasimha: Hosur Road; Pramod: Ma-gadi Road: 10.30 am, 1.30 pm; Vaib-hav, Sanjaynagar: 11.30 am, 2.30 pm;Inox: Jayanagar: 11.15 am, 1.45 noon,7.15 pm. Vaayuputra: 4 shows; Nartaki,Prasanna: 1.15 pm, 4.15 pm, 7.15 pm;Nalanda, Vaibhav-Sanjayanagar;11.30 am, 2.30 pm, 6 pm. 9.30 pm;Govardhan, Mohan - Sunkadakatte,Lakshmi - Gottegere, Kamakya: Ka-triguppe. Cheluvina Chilipili: 4shows: Swap-na, Uma, PVR, Ullas, Kamakya, Laksh-mi: Taverekere. Hushaar: 4 shows; Menaka.

Raaj - The Showman: 4 shows: San-tosh, Veeresh, Vajreshwari-Ullal, PVR;Navrang: 1.30 pm, 4.30 pm, 7.30 pm. Housefull: 4 shows: Thribhuvan;Kailash: 11 am. Iniya: Sagar: 4 shows. Love Guru: Kailash, Prithvi Nagavara. Vamshi: 4 shows: Abinay. Aishwarya: Vijayalakshmi; Chikpet:11 am and Gulama: 2 pm, 4.45 pm,7.30 pm. TAMILEeram: PVR Cinemas: 12.30 noon,5.40 pm, 8.50 pm; Inox Jayanagar:3.15 pm, 6.30 pm; Inox Magrath Road:

Kangna Ranaut and Bobby Deol in Vada Raha.City weather

Forecast: Partly cloudy.Thundershowers likely. Temperature

Maximum: 28.3 deg C Minimum: 19.3 deg CRainfall: 50.4 mmHumidity: 64 per centSunrise: (Wed) 06:09 amSunset: (Tue) 06:21 pmMoonrise: (Tue) 02.29 amMoonset: (Tue) 03:34 pm

3 pm, 8.50 pm; Fame Lido: 11.30 am,5.50 pm; Fame Forum Mall: 11 am,5.30 pm; Fun Cinemas: 9 pm; Multi-plex Innovative: 11 am, 4 pm, 7 pm,10 pm; Urvashi; Cauvery; Ajanta:10.30 am, 1.30 pm; Lavanya: 4.30 pm,7.30 pm; Mukunda; Lakshmi;Taverekere; Puspanjali; B N Pura;Vaibhavi; Uttarahalli: 11.30 am, 2.30pm; Aruna: 1 pm, 4 pm, 7 pm;Sampige: 10.30 am. Ninaithale Innikkum: Inox Jayana-gar; 4.40 pm; Inox Magrath Road;12.15 pm; Sampige: 1.30 pm, 4.30pm, 7.30 pm; Madeshwara, Amruth,Lavanya; 10.30 am, 1.30 pm, Ajanta;

4.30 pm, 7.30 pm; PVR: 3.45 pm;Fame Lido: 4.40 pm; Fame Forum Val-ue Mall: 2.30 pm, 6.40 pm. Kandaswamy: 4 shows: Nataraj, PVRCinemas; Fame Forum Value Mall:11.15 am. Easha: 4 shows: Ravi; Ejipura, Naren-dra - K G Halli, Anand: noon show. Kadal Kadai: 3 shows: Puspanjali;Sultanpalya. Nadodigal: Sharadha: 3 shows. TELUGUShankham: PVR Cinemas; InoxJayanagar: 12 pm; Fame Lido: 11 am,5.30 pm; Fame Forum Mall: 2.20 pm;4 shows, Poornima, Chandrodaya, Tu-lasi, Radhakrishna, Venkateshwara KR Puram, Maheshwari, Renukaprasan-na J P Nagar, Murali Gokula; AnjanMaqadi Road: 2 shows; Rajalakshmi;Arakere: 11.15 am, 2.30 pm, 6.30 pm,9.30 pm; Veerabhadreshwara Ka-malanagara: 3 shows. Josh: Fame Forum Value Mall; 11.30am, 5.50 pm, 9 pm; Movieland; PVR: 1pm, 5.40 pm, 8 pm; Keshava Yesh-wanthpur, Vishal - Kamakshipalya,Balaji - Hosur, Vinayaka - Marathahal-li; Fame Lido: 2.15 pm, 8.45 pm. Anjaneyulu: PVR; Abhiman - Gouri-palya; Pushpanjali - Shivanagar, 2.30pm, 6 pm, 9 pm; 4 shows - Ravi - Sar-japura. Magadheera: Pallavi, PVR, Anjan Ma-gadi Road, Fame Forum Value Mall:2.40 pm, 8.45 pm; Vaisnavi; Uttara-halli: 3 shows, 4 shows: Ganesh; Fame

Lido: 2.50 pm, 9 pm; Yelahanka, Krish-na Bommanahalli; Aparna, LakshmiRamamurthinagara. HINDIAam Ras: Inox Magrath Road: 12.20pm, 6 pm. Baabar: Inox Magrath Road: 6.15 pm;Fun Cinemas: 12.30 pm. Vaada Raha: Inox Magrath Road:12.50 pm, 4.30 pm; Inox Jayanagar:9.45 pm; Fun Cinemas: 4.45 pm; Ever-est: 11.30 am, 2.30 pm, 6.30 pm, 9.30pm, PVR: 11 am, 6.10 pm; InnovativeMultiplex: 12 noon, 5 pm, 10 pm; Vi-sion Cinemas: 10 am, 1 noon, 9 pm;Apsara; Aishwarya: Parimala, CityMarket. Kaminey: Rex: 4.45 pm, 9.45 pm; In-novative: 11.15 am, 1.45 pm, 4.30pm, 7.15 pm, 9.45 pm; Inox Jayana-gar; 2.10 pm, 4.50 pm, 9.30 pm; FunCinemas; 10.30 am, 1.15 pm, 4 pm,6.45 pm; Fame Forum Value Mall:2.15 pm, 5.15 pm, 9.30 pm; FameLido: 12 pm, 7 pm. Love Aaj Kal: Santosh: 11 am, 2 pm,5 pm, 8 pm; Vision Cinemas, Innova-tive Multiplex; PVR; Fun Cinemas: 1 pm.MALAYALAMOru Pennum Randanum: Manoran-jan: 2.45 pm, 6.15 pm, 9.15 pm; Inno-vative; Marathalli; PVR Cinemas. Ritu: PVR Cinemas: 9.20 pm; Innova-tive: 2.30 pm, 7.30 pm; Sangeet: 6.15pm, 9.30 pm.

**MMoovviiee ttiimmiinnggss aarree ssuubbjjeecctt ttoo cchhaannggee

BANGALORE, DHNS: ESPNSTAR Sports has maintained thatit has already signed deals withthree of the four leading MultipleService Operators, coveringmore than 70% of the city of Ban-galore, including Incable, DenAmogh, WWIL and Cable First.

“Thus, there is no question ofa blackout of the three channelsfrom ESPN STAR Sports bou-quet – ESPN, STAR Sports andSTAR Cricket in the City,”Makarand Palekar, AssociateVP – Affiliate Sales, ESPN Soft-ware India Pvt Ltd, said in a re-lease. “There is a deliberate mis-communication campaignwhich is being led by the MSOwho has not yet renewed theirannual contract with ESS likeIn Cable, DEN Amogh, WWILand Cable First and may be byindulging in these activities theconcerned MSO is trying to ex-tract some personal benefits,”he said. “We want to assure ourconsumers that we are tryingour level best to ensure that allhouseholds across the City willget to watch our channels” hesaid.

No blackout,says ESPNBANGALORE: The omnibus

merit list of candidates who hadapplied for post graduate cours-es of Bangalore University, forthe academic year 2009-10, willbe announced on September 16at 4 pm, on the Bangalore Uni-versity websitewww.bub.ernet.in

The counselling for admis-sions to post graduate courseswill start from September 19,at Jnana Jyothi Auditorium,Central College, Bangalore -560 009.DH News Service

BU merit list

Interview

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Metro Tomorrow: 12 pagesxxxxxxxxxxxxxx DH RealtyCivic 360°

BBMP BDA Parks and Lakes BMRDA Send your suggestions and views to bangalore360@gmail.com

Vanishing lakes: Time to act now

The widespread outcry aboutBangalore’s vanishing lakes is finallywaking up the City’s civic agencies.Plans are afoot to conserve the existingwater bodies and even revive some ofthe old ones. The agencies better speedup, because at stake is Bangalore’s veryexistence as a liveable City.

Subhash Chandra NS

Here are some star-tling findings thatshould explain theneed for urgency:The 262 wetlands

that existed in Bangalore in1962 had declined by a whop-ping 58 per cent by 2007, ac-cording to a study by the Ener-gy and Wetland researchGroup, Centre for EcologicalSciences, Indian Institute of Sci-ence. While the City’s built uparea shot up by 466 percent be-tween 1973- 2007, the 51 activewetlands in 1973 dipped to 17 by2007. During the same period,the number of lakes in GreaterBangalore came down from 159to only 93.

The study found that the con-dition of Northern part of greaterBangalore was poorer than theSouthern region, where the Cityis growing faster. Strangely, theBBMP claims there are still 212lakes in the City.

To protect the existing waterbodies from pollution and en-croachment, the Lok Adalathad issued directions recently.Following this, the BBMP hasnow launched a Rs. 900 croreconservation project.

It has been a losing battle forlake conservationists. Public In-terest Litigations, Court direc-

tions, educational programmesand government stringentnorms of the State Governmentand appeal from ScientificCommunity and environmen-talists have repeatedly failed toarrest the disappearance of thewater bodies.

Mass migrations into Banga-lore has doubled the City’s pop-ulation in a few years. “Green-ery is disappearing, groundwater mining is draining somelakes, while the scourge of unac-counted sewage and indiscrim-inate use of agro chemicals andpesticides along the wetlandshas gripped many,”explains DrNandini, Professor, Depart-ment of Environment Sciences(DES), Bangalore University.

Ishwar Prasad, Parisara, anenvironmentalist involved ingreening Thippagondanahallireservoir catchment areaagrees: “Some lakes have disap-peared due to development

works. Even the crores of ru-pees borrowed from interna-tional agencies to clean the lakeshave not been fruitful,”he says.

Forty-two lakes lost to development:

Of the 212 lakes, which thePalike claims the City has, 42were reportedly lost due to de-velopment work. They wereconverted to residential layouts,playgrounds, stadiums, indus-tries, government buildings andbus stands. Scores of privateprojects, apartments, indepe-dent houses and commercialcomplexes now stand on erst-while lakes.

According to the Palike, thelakes on which the City was de-pendent on water until the1970s were neglected followingthe Cauvery water supplyscheme to pump water from adistance of 100 kms away fromthe City. “This was the genesisof lake destruction as the utilityof the lakes was not found forthe purpose for which it was ini-tially used as. The lake sur-roundings were covered by ur-ban set up and irrigationrequirement totally dimin-ished,”says the BBMP report.

Indiscriminate sewerage dis-posal:

Indiscriminate disposal of

way back in 1994 by the CentralGround Water Board.

With no proper demarca-tions, the water bodies havebeen easy targets for landsharks. But now, with the City’spopulation requiring over 800million litres of water per day,the BBMP has no option but torevive and rejenuvate thelakes.

Bangaloreans were oncecaught in the mysteryover the drying up of lakes

while rains flooded the low-ly-ing areas. But now it is clearthat both the issues have theirorigin in the encroachment oflakes, their catchment areasand storm water drains, as astudy by the Indian Institute ofScience (IISc) reveal.

Encroachment of lakes hasbecome a common thing, butthe land sharks have not evenspared the storm water drainsand catchment areas. Over 50percent of lakes are drying updue to this and is resulting in ur-ban floodings, according to thestudy conducted by the Energyand Wetland Studies ResearchCentre, Centre for EcologicalSciences,IISc.

The study which analysedvarious lake beds have foundthat the natural drainage chan-nels and the catchment areashave been encroached by landmafia in connivance with Gov-ernment machinery.

“The downstream of Na-gavara has been encroached.Even the drain connecting theSankey lake is encroached, Amajor portion of the Begur lake

catchment area has disap-peared. It is not one story, but allthe City wetlands are facingsimilar problem,” says Dr T VRamchandra, Senior Scientist,Energy and Wetland ResearchGroup, CES, IISc.

Pointing out that the waterstorage capacity of the lakes hasdecreased in recent years, thestudy says that even a slightrainfall now leads to water log-

ging due to the encroachmentof drains.

The report says that thechanges related to flooding hasbecome a routine after 2000.Even a 30 mm rainfall for halfan hour will lead to water log-ging. The connectivity betweenYelchenhalli Kere and Madi-vala, and between Madivala andBellandur has been lost due tothe encroachment.

In the Bellandur- UlsoorCatchment area, with six lakesof Sankey, Ulsoor, Chalghatta,Chinanagara and Varthur, outof the total 240 Million cubicmeter of rainfall yield, only 90million cubic meter is percolat-ed and 150 million cubic meteroverflows, depriving the lake ofmost of the water. A major por-tion of the water cannot flowdownstream due to disruptionof natural drainage.

The story is not much differ-ent in Madivala- Varthur Catch-ment area with 14 lakes. Now,BBMP is trying to redesign theSWDs at a cost of Rs 950 crorefor the core city and a whopping6,600 crore to build new SWDsin the newly added seven CityMunicipality Council regions. SCNS and SDM

Storm water drain encroachments:A major lake-killer

Dr Nandini, Professor,BU Environment Dept.:“A Citizen’s enforce-ment culture needs tobe developed. It is important. Our environ-ment desperately needsthe Citizen’s help.”

To rejuvenate the dying lakes of the city,what role is the BBMP

playing?Currently, we are doing a briskrevenue survey of the lakesand taking precautions toclear encroachments andfence them for protection.The survey should be complet-ed in the next two to threemonths. In fact, as and whenthe lakes are identified, the re-ports are being sent to us bythe department. We will thenbe cleaning and desilting thelakes that are perishing.

BBMP’s efforts alonemay not suffice to helpthese water bodies. Is

the Palike in touch with oth-er civic agencies?We already have the co-ordi-nating agency under formerchief secretary to the ChiefMinister, A Ravindra’s chair-manship to facilitate all theagencies in helping the dyingwater bodies. We have also en-listed the help of forest depart-ment officials in replenishingand preserving the lakes.

The Palike’s lake re-port seems to showthat most lakes being

surveyed are around theBangalore city. What aboutthose which are in the cen-tre of the city and those thathave dried up?Yes, we are mostly looking atlakes around the City. But,those which are identified andwithin the City have also beennoted. We intend to replenishthose lakes by providing waterand rejuvenate those areas.

But most inlets havebeen encroachedupon by private resi-

dents. How do you intend toclear those structures thathave already been con-structed?We will try to identify thoselake areas that have been en-croached upon and clearthem. We will also be trying totreat water that is being dis-charged by houses in the vicin-ity and push it to the lakes.

That would mean set-ting up treatmentplants near the catch-

ment areas of the lake?Yes, they will be small struc-tures dependent on the size ofthe lakes. It won’t be hard toidentify them and set them upat the catchment areas. Sandeep Moudgal

1973 1992 2002 2007

fore discharge to valleys, hasnot kept pace with water useand draining by urban popula-tion,”the BBMP report reveals.

Indiscriminate drilling ofborewells is another cause citedfor the disappearing lakes. Withover 1,25,000 borewells in theCity, the water level has plungedbelow 400 feet. The BangaloreNorth Taluk was declared grey

sewerage into the lakes are cit-ed by both the IISc and BBMPreports, and another study bythe Bangalore University. TheIISc report finds that of the 360recognised slums in the City,only 30 percent have under-ground sewerage system. “Inmajority of the slums, wastewater is discharged throughstorm water drains,” the re-

BHARATLAL MEENACommissioner, BBMP

Dr TV Ramachandra,senior scientist,IIsc: “We have lost over 35per cent of the lakessince 2007. Only 33 livetanks are existing nowof which only 17 havewater throughout theyear.

Twenty-one major lakes have beentaken up for rejuvenation by BBMPat a cost of Rs 336 crore. The largestof these lakes is Bellandur lake (364ha), while the smallest is the Malgallake (2.7 ha)

ports say. The BU study ob-serves that even waste waterfrom the apartments end up inthe lakes.

“With the availability of pipedwater supply, the importanceof surfaced water in lakes lost fo-cus. The lack of adequate un-derground water drainage sys-tem to intercept and divert theused water for its treatment be-

FORTY-THREE LAKESHAVE LOST THEIR ENTIRE CHARACTER EITHER DUETO GOVERNMENT PROJECTS OR TO PRIVATE.

Prominent among them: �Dharmambudi lake: Con-verted into the Kempegow-da Bus terminus.�Sampige lake: Land usedfor the Kanteerava stadium�Koramangala lake: Landused for the National DairyResearch Institute�Akkithimannahalli lake:Converted into a HockeyStadium.�Sunkal Lake: The land nowhouses the KSRTC regionalWorkshops�Hennur lake: Convertedinto HBR layout.�Vijinipura lake: Now con-verted as the Rajarajesh-wari layiut.�Vijayanagar Chord Roadlake: Converted to Vijayna-gar lake�Jakarayana Kere: KrishnaFloor mills�Tumkur Lake: Land usedfor Mysore Lamps.

BBMP’S INITIATIVE TO REJUVENATE A TOTAL OF144 LAKES IS ALREADY INTHE PIPELINE.

The significant large lakesinclude:�Bellandur lake spreadacross 364 hectare area(ha).�Yelahanka Lake, area:121.68 ha�Kalkere lake, area: 75.68ha�Doddanekkundi lake, area:45.29 ha.� Hulimavu Kere: area:44.26 ha

The five smaller lakes underthe project with less than 1hectare area include: �Devarakere: 0.28 ha�Kariyobbanahalli kere(Yeshwanthpur), 0.31 ha�Golaratti lake (BEL layout):0.31 ha�Halagadevarahallikere(Govindrajnagar): 0.44ha�Srigandadakaval lake (Rajiv Gandhi Nagar): 0.45

Glory that was Bangalore BBMP plans

The lakes in the three valleys of Hebbal, Vrushbavathiand Koramangala Chellaghatta valley in the City hadearned Bangalore the tag of ‘ The City of Lakes.’ Most ofthese valleys were built in the 16th century AD bydamming natural valley systems and created in such amanner that each of them would harvest rainwaterfrom its catchment area and the surplus water overflows into the next lake in the downstream.

They form a hydrological chain. The monsoon runoffflow of water runs from North to South East as well as tothe South West along natural gradient of the land.Mostof these lakes were used for drinking water, irrigationand fishing and they have also influenced the micro cli-mate and have rejuvenated the ground water sinceages.

The BBMP plans to prevent fur-ther encroachment, enhance wa-ter quality to check ground watercontamination, restore ecologicalsystem, recharge ground water,create an urban asset, restore flo-ra/ fauna habitat and providelung space and provide recre-ational facilities.

The three-phased programmefocusses on demarcation ofboundaries, fencing, sewerage di-version to arrest inflow into thelake in the first phase.

Another dying city lake

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Dying lakes: A continuing story ( Blue marks on the maps indicate the water bodies)