Dear Modi Uncle,1000 Bengaluru Kids Want You to Save Their Lakes

Soon PM Modi’s post box is going to be flooded with postcards from children asking him to save Bengaluru’s lakes.

These postcards were posted on Thursday. (Photo: TNM)

In a couple of days Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s post box is going to be flooded with postcards from children asking him save Bengaluru lakes.

Wonder why?

Over 1000 students from Class 1 to 10 of KK school in Varthur area have written asking Modi to intervene in the lake restoring process. The postcards were posted on Thursday.

The post cards come at a time when many localities in Bengaluru, including Varthur, are bearing the brunt of excessive pollution in their lakes. Many lakes in city have been either encroached upon or have been polluted in the last few years leaving the city has been facing an environment crisis.

1000 children in Bengaluru seek PM Modi’s intervention in cleaning the environment. (Photo: TNM)

In the postcard, the students have written:

Dear Modi Uncle,

Clean air, clean water and clean environment is our right.

We need our Varthur Lake and Bengaluru city for our future. Protect our lakes and rivers from pollution and encroachments.

Please intervene and same them.

Students from the school have done a couple of studies on Varthur Lake in collaboration with IISc scientists. In spite of constant media attention, the problems of the foaming Varthur lake have never been addressed successfully.

MM Khan, the principal of the school told The News Minute that they decided to approach Modi after all their studies revealed alarming results.

In August, the Lake Preservation and Encroachment Committee, of which IISc scientist T V Ramachandra is also member, visited Varthur Lake. We are not experts, but based on the studies, several students and I recommended them to take up scientific methods like dredging or de-silting. However, we got to know that some vested interests in the committee has recommended dry-desilting which is unscientific. If it failed, land mafias can easily take up the land.

MM Khan

Less than one percent of Bengaluru is covered by water bodies, and research shows that 54% of lakes have encroached for buildings already.