CLASS OF 1980 SILVER JUBILEE REUNION

Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay
December 24 and 25, 2005

 

POWAI LAKE RE-VITALIZATION PROJECT

An IIT Bombay Class of 1980 Initiative

 

Earlier this year, when some volunteers from the Class of 1980 met to consider our ‘Legacy Project’ for IIT there were many suggestions – most of them very doable and many of them ideas of merit.   None of them however seemed unique and broad based enough to be deemed a legacy for our class to leave for IIT and the future.  After much debate, we settled on the one initiative that everyone agreed was both large enough and challenging enough to actually attempt: “The revitalization of Powai Lake”

When we left IIT in 1980, Powai Lake was just that - a Lake. Reasonably clean, reputed to have crocodiles and a great place for fishing and seeing wild birds. Today it’s little better than a septic tank choked with water hyacinth and weeds, recipient of millions of litres of untreated sewage and over 300,000 cubic metres of silt. Of course there’s more. There always is: Quarrying, blasting, vehicular pollution and excessive construction are also destroying the lake that was created in 1891 to augment the city’s drinking water supply and recharge ground water resources.

The lake is dying, and with it, a landmark of Mumbai and  IIT Bombay.
Can we let this happen? Should we let this happen?

 

 

Picture shows current status of Powai Lake.  It’s in there somewhere!  Visible in the background is the IIT Guest House.

A huge task. An essential task
          This is not going to be cheap. And it’s not going to be completed in a year. It will require getting the Government, NGOs, IIT, Industry and concerned citizens (e.g. us) to work together.   The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai has to agree to stop dumping garbage and diverting sewage to the lake. It has to also agree to enforce existing environmental laws.  IIT will continue to do much of the difficult work - Dr. Ashok Misra, Director, has taken an active interest in this task - and the monitoring required to salvage the lake from the brink of disaster.  Industry needs to use the catchment areas prudently….. and funds have to be raised from a variety of sources.  Depending on how much we want to do, the total amount required is between Rs. 5 crores and Rs. 20 crores (approximately 1 to 4 million US dollars).

Getting it moving
          We could try and do everything at once: raise all the money, get the bureaucracy and other interests to cooperate, install sewage treatment plants…Or…. we could go about it slightly more effectively, by using our resources to get the project off the ground and helping motivate all concerned.   Further discussion amongst the group of volunteers and input from many of you including responses to the survey email led us to only one conclusion: the revitalization and re-beautification would have to be on two phases (or tracks).

Phase I (Track A): a meaningful statement to start the momentum and get the right people interested and involved.
Phase II (Track B): getting the government, bureaucracies, NGOs and the industry involved to fund and execute the larger project.

It was further decided that as a class, our energies and financial resources were best spent in focusing on Phase I (Track A) as our Legacy project to get things rolling and to help start the process on Phase II (track B).   We strongly believe that as we implement our goals in Track A, tremendous impetus will be provided to get Track B started and completed in due course.

As a group we decided that rather than generate pledges and plans, it is best to get things initiated and do so by December 2005!  Till today we have collected about Rs.  68 Lakhs (USD 150,000).   The general call is "One day's salary for each year you have been out of the institute ...... or, one per cent of your  net worth that you can attribute to your IIT education ... or whatever you are ready, willing and able to ..." The piggy-back effect is already obvious, and several from our batch are now taking leadership roles in getting Phase II (track B) initiated that will make Powai Lake self-sustaining and vibrant.

Some of the tasks that will be undertaken with the monies that will be donated to IIT Bombay include:  

(a)                  removing water hyacinth and weeds from the lake in the parts nearest the campus

(b)                  starting a publicity and an awareness program in the area

(c)                  building embankments, walkways and pathways to the lake

(d)                  constructing a large gazebo for an evening (or morning or afternoon) by the lake

(e)                  planting trees, and creating a garden

(f)                    installing docks, deploying boats and canoes

(g)                  allocating funds for annual maintenance

(h)                  support the steering committee to develop a project plan for Track B

IIT Bombay through Dr. Ashok Misra, Director has assured full cooperation and has agreed to provide whatever assistance we might need. The project will be professionally managed by a competent project manager who will work under directives of IIT Bombay.  An oversight committee has been formed to see the successful implementation of our objectives.

With your help and participation, Powai Lake can be brought back to the state that we remember and enjoyed 25 years ago. The future is waiting for us to act.

 

 

Powai Lake as we knew it in 1980!