This hidden trail leads to a once-dying lake restored by the community in Chennai - The Hindu

This hidden trail leads to a once-dying lake restored by the community in Chennai - The Hindu

This hidden trail leads to a once-dying lake restored by the community in Chennai - The Hindu

Posted: 02 Feb 2020 11:44 PM PST

In 2016, bird watchers had enthusiastically reported sightings of 100 greater flamingos at Perumbakkam lake. "August is not the migratory season, yet the birds have come," KVRK Thirunaranan of Nature Trust had said, crediting water levels and abundance of fish to the flamingoes' choice of destination. The black-tailed godwit, a near-threatened bird species had also arrived at the lake, as had more than 30 ruff birds.

Eventually, however, garbage, construction rubble and water extraction through wells took over and the birds stayed away. For the first time in remembered history, the lake had more mud patches than water. Around that time, an alarmed group of residents got cracking to save their beloved lake. Stop sewage/garbage dumping, prevent private suppliers drawing water from the farm wells, they had appealed. Desilt, mark the boundary, plant trees and raise an embankment!

Their prayer was heard. In October last year, the lake got a makeover — centuries of mud deposit was scooped out and collected into a high bund along the open side of the lake. With the generous rainfall that followed, the lake basin filled up and plants grew on the sides as the water body waited for fish and birds to re-discover it. The 2-kilometre causeway is now a beautiful trail, whether you walk it for work or leisure.

This hidden trail leads to a once-dying lake restored by the community in Chennai

We went exploring. On the Sholinganallur – Perumbakkam Main Road we took the second left after the Advent church, and drove till we reached the bifurcation point. Into the Subhash Chandra Bose Road, with Chittalapakkam at our end, we turned right. And stopped. In the Perumbakkam Reserve forest to the left, we spotted a mysterious board that said "ASI Monument Protected." The "monument" was nowhere, probably hidden in the thick overgrowth. A hundred metres ahead we stopped again to click the blooming Senkanthal, our state flower, and a huge 10-foot-high termite hill. Then we drove into Indira Nagar Masudi Street and parked near a gentle slope to the right.

The lovely check dam that stores Okkiyam canal water welcomed us. The roaring waterfall it creates during monsoons is now a trickle, but no matter, it makes crossing and climbing the bund at its far end easier. We hoisted ourselves up a slippery slope, and voilà! We were on the heavenly trail, flanked by water on one side and foliage on the other. It was a long, beautiful walk, at the end of which we found the bund branching out to Veerabhadra Nagar on the left and New Perumbakkam on the right.

From here, the track to Perumbakkam carves a mini lake of sorts to the left. It receives the run-off water coursing through a sluice gate, making the trail scenic all the way to the town.

This trek was more about flora than fauna. On the dry side along the trail, you can list out a forest of different trees. We identified odhiyam, panai palmyra, nuna (Indian mulberry), aamanaku (castor), usilai, nochi (white- chaste shrub), nerinjil (puncture vine) and the martynia annua plant with beautiful bulb-like white flowers with a violet tinge. Call it cat's claw as it resembles feline paws.

If you are into medicinal plants, you could spend all morning identifying keezhanelli, mudakathan, nerinjal, thoodarvalai and a host of others. And in the water, don't miss hyacinth, hydrilla and lily. And yes, the birds were there – drongos and a flock of egrets – and others can't be far behind.

For cleaners N Malathi and S Shanthi, the bund is a short-cut to work in the New Perumbakkam households — "The walkway isn't popular," they said. Near the check dam we caught men collecting live food for their fish tanks.

This hidden trail leads to a once-dying lake restored by the community in Chennai

For the residents though, this is a dawn of restoration. "Clean up, and the place will remain so," said an optimistic Parthi Nagarajan, who with friends had "embarked on a journey with Environmentalists Foundation of India [EFI]" to protect the lake with crowd-sourced funding. "We want a walkway built, trees planted and the industries opposite punished for letting effluents under the road. Sewage dumping must go and we need an entire eco-system built around the bund."

"Precious resource," said Dr. TD Babu, Marine Biologist. "Let's help it flourish by preventing open defecation and plastic and rubble dumping."

In this column, we document the city's lesser-known oases for you to explore

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

This fish is worth $300,000 - New York Post

This fish is worth $300,000 - New York Post This fish is worth $300,000 - New York Post Posted: 05 Jun 2016 12:00 AM PDT With exacting precision, the surgeon inserted the scalpel above the eyeball and cut out a snotty deposit of fatty tissue. The routine eye-lift was nearly complete when suddenly the patient awoke, suffocating, and began to flop about on the table. The audience gasped. Knowing time was of the essence, the surgeon scooped up the patient in his arms, raced across the stage, and dropped her into a tank of water. She revived. Because she was a fish. Yes, fish eye-lifts exist. As do fin jobs and tail tucks. The operating theater was a mall in Jakarta, Indonesia, where a pet expo was under way. As for the patient, she survived, her formerly droopy eyes now bright and perky. A good thing, too, as this was no ordinary goldfish but rather an Asian arowana, the world's most expensive aquarium denizen, rumored to sell for as mu
Read more

Reviews: Horrified SeaQuest Aquarium Visitors Tell All | PETA - PETA

Image
Reviews: Horrified SeaQuest Aquarium Visitors Tell All | PETA - PETA Reviews: Horrified SeaQuest Aquarium Visitors Tell All | PETA - PETA Posted: 21 Sep 2020 12:00 AM PDT SeaQuest aquariums—which are owned by Vince Covino—are plagued by issues: animal deaths, legal violations, injuries to employees and members of the public from direct contact with animals, and customer reviews that'll make your jaw drop (and not in a good way). So if you've ever considered visiting a SeaQuest location or any other Covino-operated aquarium, do yourself and animals a favor: Learn from these TripAdvisor and Yelp reviewers. At SeaQuest Folsom in California, an otter was apparently whacked with a broom. "This place smells the animals look tortured and starved. I'm not a fan of this place. Took my family and we ran out of there. … We will never go back. Also we saw an employee wack an otter with a broom. … If you love animals you will hate t
Read more

Eight different exotic fish species recorded in Ganga river: Kataria - Outlook India

Image
Eight different exotic fish species recorded in Ganga river: Kataria - Outlook India Eight different exotic fish species recorded in Ganga river: Kataria - Outlook India Posted: 17 Sep 2020 12:00 AM PDT New Delhi, Sep 17 (PTI) Eight different exotic fish species were recorded in a study on fishes in Ganga river, Rattan Lal Kataria, Minister of State in the Jal Shakti Ministry, said on Thursday.             Many ecological parameters like dissolved oxygen conductivity indicated that the river health is improving, Kataria said.             In a written response to a question in the Lok Sabha, Kataria said under the Namami Gange Programme, a project of ''Assessment of fish and fisheries of the Ganga River System for developing suitable conservation and restoration plan'' was sanctioned to Central Inland Fisheries Research Institute (CIFRI) for Rs 7.067 crore. The purpose of the exercise was to study fish and fisheries of river
Read more