A Plog To Save Hosakerehalli Lake From Becoming A Junkyard
On October 3rd, just a day after Gandhi Jayanthi, I volunteered to join a group of ploggers who organised an event to clean the surroundings of Hosakerehalli Lake in Bengaluru. After more than 70 years of Gandhi’s passing, his vision of a Swachh Bharat is far from being fulfilled.
While I was at Hosakerehalli lake, it was disheartening to see garbage spread out in front of the lake and to breathe the sickening stench of rotten waste. Someone had to clean the mess. With the shared support of Unicorn Art Club, Mahadev Foundation, and BBMP workers, The Indian Ploggers army were armed and ready to plog. But would that be enough to save Hosakerehalli lake from becoming a junkyard?
“Plogging originated in Sweden from Swedish words “plocka upp” (pick up) and jogga (jog),” stated G Nagaraj when he introduced us to the concept of plogging. The idea of a plog is to walk/jog and pick up wastes on the go. Nagaraj, who is on a mission for a clean and sustainable environment, is famously known as The Indian Plogman and is the torchbearer of The Indian Ploggers Army. I was now a part of his plogging army. This time, to help in cleaning up Hoskarehalli lake.
The plog began with a plogger’s pledge recital to reduce, reuse and recycle wastes. Then, the group of about ten ploggers accompanied by BBMP workers dispersed into smaller clusters, each of us with gunny bags to pick up litter. We found wrappers, bottles, leftover food shoved into polythene covers, and an assortment of thrown away things every few feet as we walked. We could only pick what could be disposable. By the time we reached the lake’s entrance, we were taken aback by what we saw.
We had a picturesque view of the lake from a distance. The lake, however, looked like grassland with weeds covering all over it. A hillock with residential towers stood tall gazing over the lake from a distance, and lush green grass and trees surrounded the lake from all sides. We even spotted a flock of birds around drinking and bathing from the shallow waters. Though the place offered a scenic view from far, right in front of us lay a pile of garbage spread across the compound with a stink that would cause nausea. There was a pathway for walks. But now, the route had become slushy with rains and excess waste smudged over it. One could not even take a step without getting their feet soaked in the muddy slush. There also lay a carcass of an animal with flies swarming around. The place was nonetheless a junkyard with a variety of mixed trash. From paper to plastic to glass to rotten leftovers, I could only wonder what was left to spoil the place even more.
“What can we do, sir? Each time we do a round of trash collection, more keep piling up.” replied one of the BBMP workers when asked about the issue. He showed me the excessive amount of garbage that lay before us and pointed to his trash-collecting rickshaw. “How could a BBMP rickshaw possibly collect so much when the garbage keeps piling up.” was his explanation. He was right. The rickshaw could only collect a fraction of what was there. So I enquired with the BBMP official on what the reasons were. The official claims that the main culprits are the local restaurants that would discreetly dump huge gunny bags of rotten meat and vegetables at night. Other suspects were residents from the neighbouring area who didn’t want to dirty their immediate surroundings. The locals will have their reasons for dumping near the lake. But would those reasons be worth a justification considering the dire state of the lake?
The problems were many. Most of the solutions we thought countered to be ineffective. We asked if a guard could be assigned. The BBMP official said they had tried that. “We had appointed marshals to keep a vigil. But, people would continue to dump in their absence mostly during the night.”, he said. If the BBMP workers warned any locals who were caught red-handed, the locals would retort rudely. The latter would claim their influence of knowing so-and-so officer or politician and harass the BBMP workers to mind their own business. When asked if CCTVs would help, the BBMP official sighed. He said the cameras would only get stolen. Rachna, a fellow plogger and a resident of Hosakerehalli tried to reach out to local authorities to intervene. But to no avail. The lake could also turn into a park for morning walks and jogs, thereby making it open to the public to reduce the trash. But that might be very unlikely to happen soon. We eventually decided to write a petition to the higher-ups and spread the word. There were also ideas on reaching out to corporates and who could take a CSR initiative to restore the lake. And meanwhile, scout the place and plog whenever possible.
I got an interesting response from Nagaraj, The Indian Plogman, when I asked him the root cause for this mess and how to solve it. His simple response was “mindset of the people.” He explained that it is a society’s collective mindset that can be the root cause and solution. One would habitually dirty a place that is already dirty. If maintained with cleanliness, then one would think again before discarding even a mere candy wrapper.
While there is a lot to ponder about, the problem remains unsolved. While some try cleaning the mess, others would add on to it. Only time will tell what the future holds for Hosakerehalli lake. Till then, the lake’s hope lies with the change in the mindset of the people surrounding it.
