Lake restoration drive to draw migratory birds

Cleaning up of Ameenpur Lake near Ramachandrapuram gathered pace on Sunday when nearly 200 volunteers picked up plastic bags and other trash strewn on the lake shore and shallow water areas as part of their initiative to restore the lake to its pristine glory.

The volunteers from Telangana State Special Protection Force (TSSPF) and two youth groups, Hyderabad Birding Pals, a mixed group of bird buffs, and Phulkari, the ladies wing of the Telangana Punjabi Sabha, have launched the cleanup campaign in a sustained manner so that the bird habitat is enriched by the time they arrive in September.

The campaign is supported by the GHMC, Medak collector and district magistrate, Medak district police and the Ameenpur gram panchayat. Emergence of factories, housing colonies and other encroachments, including mines, in the lake conservancy zone has posed environmental threats in the area around the lake.

“There are several issues like the unauthorised occupation of the lake bed where layouts have sprung up, the flow of domestic wastage and industrial effluents besides the killing of birds as a game or for exotic meat of which there is evidence in the lake environs that have to be addressed.

We are in touch with the Medak district collector and other concerned officials on these issues,” said TSSPF director general Tejdeep Kaur Menon. The volunteers will spend at least one day every month on the restoration efforts beginning with the bird sightings soon after the break of dawn.

“What we sighted on June 28 included the black winged stilt, cormorant, grey heron, little egret, black kite, red wattled lapwing, Indian silver bill, red vented bulbul, the Indian oriole, the spotted dove, painted stork, the river tern and the Indian robin,” said Harikrishna Adepu of the Hyderabad Birding Pals, while pointing out about 162 species of birds flock to the Ameenpur lake every year.

The volunteers also spotted some species of fishes and snakes in the 50 acre water sheet and the trees and shrubs in its environs spread over 100 acres. They plan to organise lectures and visual presentation sessions for school and college goers on how to identify different species, their role as young citizens in protecting the ecosystem and understand the impact of different pollutants that affect the lake.

Planting of saplings has also begun at the 64 acre TSSPF Academy which abuts the lake. These include flower and fruit tree saplings like peepul, neem, jackfruit, mango, gulmohar and jamun.