Saturday, February 16, 2013

A walk by the lakeside, Padur


 I have heard Padur residents get water supplied from a  lake in their backyard. Truckloads of water Mantri Synergy residents used to get before borewells were activated was, presumably,  sourced from this lake. Beneficiaries would find a visit to the lake educative. For me, a lakeside walk early this morning was thought-provoking.
Tell-tale movement of persons,  close to the lake suggest the following::
1) There is a crying need for a row of public toilets, watered from the lake,  for the benefit of those now using lakeside bushes for the purpose.
2) The water body needs to be fenced off , to make it inaccessible to public.
3) The muddy pathway that runs along the lake is so littered with snails that we could do with a signpost, saying,  'Snails Crossing: Tread/Drive Carefully'.

They are seen in scores moving about on the muddy road, in early mornings. Snails dislike sunlight. When it comes to pace the fastest of snails, they say, move 50 yards per hour.
The need for fencing off the lake can't be overstated. State govt. water supply undertaking has a pumping station that was put up five years back  under a community drinking water supply scheme  funded by the Asian Development Bank.  Lake-fencing, and provision of public toilets, which might not have been necessary factors when the drinking water scheme was launched, in 2008, now assume a critical dimension.

Suggestion: Engineering students/faculty in neighbourhood  institutions such as Hindustan University  and Mohd. Sathak Engineering College can take up Padur lake improvement as a class project. The project report they come up with can become a campaign theme for OMR Greens for mobilizing public support for implementation of the lake conservation scheme.

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