Kere Habba (Lake festival) is an annual celebration of the lake at the Kaikondrahalli lake. It features organic and eco-friendly santhe, live music performances, storytelling sessions, workshops, activities and a conference. This is a one-day sunrise to sunset event which focuses on two objectives – to show the significance of lakes and as a fundraiser for the maintenance of the lake. On 16th February, 2020, MAPSAS along with BBMP conducted its 6th edition of this festival which took place from 6am to 6pm, with events such as the bird walk, kere run, photography workshop, puppet show, storytelling, Yakshagana, etc.
As the resources reduced for the monthly maintenance of the lake, in 2017 four residents from around the lake, Pushpa Krishna, Rinaz Mohammad, Padma Srinivas and her husband Srinivas Sampath, took part in the 42 km Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon (SCMM) and individually started a fundraiser on Milaap for the upkeep of the lake. Altogether they raised up to nearly 3.3 lakhs for the maintenance of the Kaikondrahalli lake. Other than this, every year, Kere Habba is celebrated which is also a fundraiser collected through various stalls and activities conducted from sunrise to sunset on one particular day.
In 2014, a survey was conducted to identify the various Flora and Fauna species at the Kaikondrahalli lake. According to the survey, around 43 species of birds, 26 species of reptiles and 3000 plants comprising at least 33 varieties have been identified. Many migratory birds also visit this biodiversity lake from October to March. This in turn gathers many photography enthusiasts and bird watchers to the lake.
The park has various facilities such as walking/jogging pathway, washroom, play areas, parks, cycling tracks, butterfly garden and an amphitheatre. People can also bring their pets with them to the park from 5am – 11am and 3pm to 7pm.
In the recent years, the lake has been suffering from algal growth and stench due to the sewage entering the lake from a close by private property. To resolve this issue MAPSAS had taken an initiative to pour Effective Microorganism (EM) solution into the lake. Few days after that, MAPSAS and volunteers from around the area gathered to make bokashi balls (Japanese technique that clears off sludge) to dump in the lake. It was made using the bokashi powder (containing sawdust and husk), mixed with cow dung, red mud sludge from the lake, jaggery and effective microorganism (EM) solution. This mixture was then rolled into balls and left to activate, after which it was dumped in the lake.
During every summer, since 2018, the lake water has had algal bloom and the stench. Pouring of EM solution and dropping Bokashi balls into the lake has only become a temporary solution. MAPSAS also took initiative in seeking the BBMP Lakes team’s help in initiating an underground drainage system to diverge sewage water from the lake, as a long-term relief. The BBMP has thus decided to spend Rs.3 crore for constructing diversion drain at Kaikondrahalli lake.
In 2013, as an initiative by the Stockholm Resilience Centre, Swedish University, a documentary film, 'Kaikondarahalli lake – The Uncommon Story of an Urban Commons', was released. Harini Nagendra, an ecologist and a community member of the Kaikondrahalli lake was approached by Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom to do a research project on the conservation of the Kaikondrahalli lake by the local community. The film was has two versions- a three minute clipping to screen during seminars and conferences and a longer version which was uploaded to the biodiversity page of the university website.
A Krishnappa
"A Krishnappa
A.Krishnappa hailed from the Yadava community and has brought a significant wave with the backward classes. Mr. Krishnappa began his political career in the year 1985 when he was elected as MLA. He represented the Varthur Assembly Constituency. Krishnappa stayed with the Congress Party (India) for almost three decades, left the party, and joined the Janata Dal (Secular) in the lay-in to the Assembly elections.
He contested as the Janata Dal (Secular) candidate from Tumkur parliamentary constituency in the ongoing elections and was confident of winning the seat. Being a former minister and a leader of backward classes as well, he was elected as the state JD(S) president in the month of September 2013 after H D Kumaraswamy called it a day to give up his position. While Mr. Krishnappa served at the Varthur constituency for almost four courses, that is twenty years in total and worked as a Minister for Animal Husbandry, Social Welfare, Horticulture, and Sugar.
After joining the JD(S) party, Mr. Krishnappa filled the post left by the former Chief Minister of Karnataka, H.D. Kumaraswamy. Kumaraswamy resigned from the post holding moralistic liability for the inadequate enforcement and performance of the party during those freshly decided bypolls in 2013. Following the polls, Mr. Deve Gowda said to press persons of The Hindu that by naming A. Krishnappa, one thing had been confirmed. It is that the JD(S) was not a political party of father and son as it was claimed by other political critics. “This is the testimony of the party’s concern for backward classes,” as mentioned in the news reports.
In the year 2015, The BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) election concerning the wards within the K R Puram Assembly Constituency had transformed into a personal argument in between the Congress MLA, Byrati Basavaraj, and former BJP MLA, N. S. Nandiesha Reddy. Until the year 2008, this constituency remained a Congress stronghold that was represented by Mr. A Krishnappa. But, Nandeesh Reddy gained victory in the assembly election during 2008 directing the BJP swing. This party, BJP further succeeded to acquire eight out of nine wards in the 2010 BBMP elections. Congress, on the other hand, acquired a win solely in the Basavanapura ward in K.R.Puram. It was a time where a Congress win would accommodate Basavaraju to additionally strengthen his post and make an appearance as the new leader in Bengaluru. While for Nandeesh Reddy, a win would encourage him to recover his grip on the constituency.
After Nandeesh Reddy lost the assembly elections in 2013, he effected to show the way to Mr. Krishnappa’s daughter meeting corporator, Mrs. Poornima Srinivas, into the BJP. She had contested from the K R Puram ward. The news reports show that Mrs. Poornima believes that her father’s struggles and encouragement would support her to survive and withstand the party.
In the year 2013, N. Dharam Singh, former chief minister of Karnataka, Mr. Krishnappa along with a few other corporators of K R Puram looked over and examined the hanging bridge of Krishnarajapuram that was initiated on January 26, 2003, by the former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Mr. Krishnappa was the chairperson of the South East Asian (SEA) Education Trust. This former state president of JD(S) departed his life on April 23, 2014, Wednesday after undergoing a cardiac arrest. Mr. Krishnappa suffered a heart attack in the evening while he was playing badminton in his SEA college of Engineering at Ayyappa Nagar circle in K R Puram. News reports state that he was resting in the badminton arena around 6 in the evening during when he abruptly grieved of chest pain and collapsed in the court. Soon when he was rushed to the K R Puram Super Speciality Hospital, Dr. Ravi, who examined him, announced that Krishnappa had obstructed his arteries and departed his life at the age of 68.
Mr. Krishnappa’s body was brought to BVN High School in Devasandra, where he served as a committee member for more than a decade. It was kept for his supporters, companions, and other people to look at him for the last time. After which the news sources stated the mortal remains of Mr. Krishnappa was kept at his Devasandra home near K R Puram for people to advance respect and homage for the last time.