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Time of India
7 days ago
- General
- Time of India
30 years on, another attempt in works to save Upper Lake now mocked by weeds
Bhopal: Nearly three decades after the Japan-funded Bhoj Wetland Project brought Rs 2,100 crore worth of conservation efforts to Bhopal's lakes, the city is preparing a new rejuvenation plan for Upper Lake—at roughly one-third the cost. This marks the first integrated restoration initiative for Bada Talab in 30 years. Led by the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) in collaboration with EPCO, the plan is being shaped by experts from SPA Bhopal and MANIT. Environmental Planning and Coordination Organisation (EPCO) established in 1981 and which functions as an advisory body on ecological and sustainability issues, to integrate environmental planning into Madhya Pradesh's development process. Bada Talab, the manmade lake built by Raja Bhoj in the 11th century, remains India's only artificial water body still capable of supplying potable water. Over the years, it has suffered from unchecked weed growth, siltation, and pollution. De-weeding, particularly along the Bhopal–Sehore stretch, is a priority, as the Kolans River—one of the lake's main feeders—has become choked with nutrient-rich sediment. BMC commissioner Harendra Narayan said a preliminary plan has been submitted to EPCO, which is serving as the nodal agency. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 20 Pieces of Clothing you should Ditch over 40 Learn More Undo "Experts from MANIT and SPA are formalizing the integrated development plan. It will be submitted to the union govt for funding approval as part of the national initiative to preserve UNESCO Ramsar sites," he said. The plan includes lake and river restoration, water treatment, catchment protection, and infrastructure upgrades around sensitive zones. Officials hope the project will not only restore Bada Talab's ecological balance but also reinforce its Ramsar site status and viability as a drinking water source. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area. Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Raksha Bandhan wishes , messages and quotes !
Time of India
24-07-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Bhopal civic body meet resumes after 3-months; clashes erupt, Rs 25 crore ghat plan passed
BHOPAL: The Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) convened its council meeting after a three-month break. The agenda included proposals to construct six new immersion ghats with a budget of Rs 25 crore, and to rename Old Ashoka Garden as Ram Bagh and Parihar Chauraha as Vivekanand Chowk. The meeting was marked by heated exchanges between BJP and Congress corporators over civic issues and administrative accountability. Proceedings began with the council recognising the efforts of sanitation workers, following Bhopal's achievement of second place in the national cleanliness rankings. Tensions rose as BJP corporators demanded a censure motion against BMC Commissioner Harendra Narayan, citing his lack of response and inaction on previous complaints. Congress members echoed the criticism, highlighting poor road conditions, non-functional streetlights, and controversial increases in public toilet fees. The council approved the proposals to rename Old Ashoka Garden and Parihar Chauraha. Corporators from both parties pointed to specific cases of official negligence, prompting the commissioner to issue show-cause notices to three engineers in the electricity department.
Time of India
19-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
BMC council meet after 3 months, but civic issues nowhere on agenda
Bhopal: The forthcoming Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) council meeting continues to sidestep pressing public concerns like deteriorating roads and monsoon drainage problems. According to sources, the agenda centres on new immersion ghats, Amrut 2.0 initiatives, and location naming matters. The corporation has distributed the meeting agenda to all councillors for the July 24 session. As part of the upcoming council agenda, there's a proposal to rename Old Ashoka Garden to Ram Bagh, and to designate the junction near Vivekanand Park as Vivekanand Chowk. The meeting at ISBT, commencing on July 24, will begin by acknowledging sanitation workers and residents for Bhopal's achievement of second position nationally amongst cities. Seasonal greetings for Sawan and upcoming festivities will follow. A 60-minute question session precedes the primary agenda discussion. The administration has already issued the formal agenda. The council convenes after a three-month and 21-day interval, with the previous meeting held on April 3, despite bi-monthly meeting requirements. The MIC holds authority to postpone council meetings up to one year. The opposition Congress party continues submitting appeals to the divisional commissioner for regular council sessions. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Villas For Sale in Dubai Might Surprise You Dubai villas | search ads Get Deals Undo BMC chairman Kishan Suryavanshi requested BMC commissioner Harendra Narayan via correspondence to address waterlogging, road conditions, drainage maintenance and ward-level sewage concerns for residents' monsoon convenience. The agenda includes establishing immersion facilities at four city locations, recently approved by the Mayor-in-Council. New sites are planned at Barkatullah University campus, Neelbadh, Sanjeev Nagar, Malipura and Prempura, requiring Rs 25.08 crore. Additional items include Amrut 2.0 tenders and renaming Old Ashoka Garden to Ram Bagh and Parihar Chauraha to Vivekanand Chowk. The opposition seeks discussion regarding the public toilet fee increase from Rs 6 to Rs 10 across 25 facilities, suggesting improper implementation benefiting Sulabh International.
Time of India
09-07-2025
- General
- Time of India
Take action on encroachments at Upper Lake in 3 months: NGT
Bhopal: In an important environmental directive, the Central Zone Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has ordered that identified encroachments in the Bhadbhada region of Bhopal's Upper Lake be addressed within the next three months. According to a press release on Wednesday, during a recent hearing of case, Bhopal municipal corporation informed the NGT that under the AMRUT 1.0 scheme, work has already been undertaken around the lake including laying sewer lines, establishing sewage treatment plants, and providing household connections in the region. Under AMRUT 2.0, further efforts are underway to treat the lake's untreated water. BMC also reported that previously cleared land in the Bhadbhada area has now been secured with fencing and enriched through tree plantation. District collector Kaushlendra Vikram Singh and BMC commissioner Harendra Narayan joined the hearing via video conference, while legal representatives of both petitioner and respondent appeared in person. The NGT emphasised its concern over ecological protection and instructed authorities to ensure timely action on remaining encroachments for the long-term health of the Upper Lake ecosystem.
Time of India
17-06-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Trial By Smoke, Fire & Water At Landfill Site
Bhopal: Step into any village near the Adampur Landfill site and you are greeted with an unbearable stench of unaddressed issues and abandonment. The villagers have become accustomed to living with the unpleasant odour, but they stare at a bigger crisis that looms large — polluted water and air, and associated health risks. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Fires in the landfill are an added worry, they say. While Bhopal district administration and municipal corporation have abided by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and successive court orders to shift the landfill from Bhanpur to a modern site — Adampur has proved to be contentiously scientific in waste disposal and keeping pollution levels under check. The result, villagers in surrounding villages face a crisis of clean potable water and fresh air. Water & Air Woes TOI visited Adampur, Chawani, Padariya, Shanti Nagar, Haripura, Arjun Nagar, all in Huzur tehsil, and found cause for grave concern. Some villages get tankers from BMC or have arranged borewells on their own while some areas do not get water at all and are dependent on other villages. When TOI visited the spot, the residents were eager to talk about water woes, lack of health facilities, and landfill-related issues. "We do not get enough water and are surviving on tankers here. We often get food poisoning and washing utensils and clothes is also a problem as they are all yellowed by the dirty water that we get from borewells," said Kashibai of Padariya village. The nearest govt hospital is Hamidia, 17km away, and there are no civic dispensaries or primary health centres in the area, they say. A BMC worker in-charge of the tankers at the spot, told TOI, "Tankers aren't a permanent solution. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Work on installing a pipeline in the area is ongoing." Asked about the impact of the fires and pollution remediation, BMC commissioner Harendra Narayan said, "The matter is sub judice and we cannot comment on it at the moment. " CPCB officials also refused to comment on the matter. Ailment Alarm Arjun Nagar is a village that resettled at a place ahead of village Haripura almost a decade ago, for the Adampur plant to come up, residents told TOI, "There are no toilets, cremation grounds or means to dispose of garbage here. We've arranged for water by ourselves and with some help from the administration. Politicians promised us a lot of things a year ago but nothing has happened," said Rahul Banjaara. Residents of Padariya have complained on the CM helpline as well but they say they haven't received any solutions yet. "My mother has fallen twice or thrice while fetching water from the BMC tanker so I lodged a complaint. They told me I didn't have a connection but I have a connection under Nal Jal Yojana but not even air comes out of that tap. I was told my problem was resolved by the tanker but that was part of the problem," said Abhishek Mogiya who lives in Padariya with his family. On the horizon, large mounds of solid waste can be seen at Adampur landfill. In Haripura, villagers said that they've been awaiting fumigation for almost 5 years now as they struggle to live with mosquitoes and other insects. Villager, Khemchand said that no authorities visit them though their kids fall ill frequently, "Look at 9-year-old Bunty (pointing to a kid standing nearby). We had to take him to Ujjain for a kidney stone operation. Mosquitoes trouble us. Cows die because they enter through the broken boundaries and eat the waste. Our dairy business is over," he added. A lot of people in these villages are daily wagers. "People get the girls in our village checked for diseases before a marriage," a middle-aged woman said. Fire & Smoke Bheema Banjara, another resident of Haripura who's an auto-driver, said that his eyes have grown red due to the frequent fires in the region. He recalled along with Manoj Vandeva, who lives in nearby Shanti Nagar, how smoke enveloped the whole area turning the daylight into virtually night, last month. Breathing problems, headaches and itching in the eyes follow every major fire. "Those who could leave the place at that time left, we just stayed back keeping our doors shut and remained indoors. You could not even have stood here at the time of the fire," recalls Manoj. With monsoon around the corner, villagers now fear water contamination. "When it rains, the runoff from the dump floods our streets. Besides the garbage flows onto the roads," Manoj added. Residents in Haripura told TOI that they had only one male doctor near the village other than the private hospitals that have cropped up a few kilometers away, and they visit him and take their kids to him whenever they fall sick. "The authorities only take reports from the 'managers' and middlemen of the villages and our concerns are never addressed, it seems like to us," said a villager, wishing anonymity. Supreme Court had asked Central Pollution Control Probe (CPCB) to monitor and probe the condition of these villages on the petition of environmental activist Subash Pandey last month. The hearing of the case is on July 25. Conditions seemed marginally better in Adampur Chawani as it is close to Bhopal, but still marked by issues of disposing garbage and malnourished cows, and as you travel a few kilometres inside the labyrinth of the region, the water and health issues get much worse. Looking For Help TOI went to Padariya on June 11 and were directed to Aakash Indoriya, husband of the sarpanch. He told the team that no authority had been to the village with reference to the CPCB probe until June 15 and that the village's water sources had gone bad. A resident of Chawani, 45-year-old Parvati, told TOI that though she did not face acute water shortages, supply is on alternate days. Sagarmohalla's Sanjay said that his area has not been getting any water and he depends on nearby villages and people known to him for getting adequate water. Green Concern Subhash Pandey, the environmental activist who moved the application in SC that resulted in the CPCB probe told TOI, "Not just the groundwater in the area but the soil too has been contaminated and there is leachate that pollutes the farming and vegetables grown here. People are unaware how this impacts them in Bhopal. These vegetables come to our markets and we eat them and the air pollution from Adampur too affects Bhopal through drifting. So it isn't just affecting the villages in Adampur but the whole city, just for the reason that proper waste disposal cannot be applied at the landfill," he said. "The PM levels around the time of the fire were in the high PM 10 and PM 2.5 in the immediate vicinity of the landfill. We were also concerned about the air pollution to Bhopal but when we checked the AQI of Govindpura Industrial Area, the AQI (Air quality Index) was around 150, which was less than what we feared," said Brijesh Sharma, regional officer at MP pollution control board (MPPCB). "The fire prevention measures in the area need to be stronger and a comprehensive expert panel should preside over how fire should be extinguished in the area in case of fire. The key challenge is to dispose the legacy waste properly as that could solve a lot of the problems." added Sharma. Health Camps "We had to conduct a health survey and we talked to around 30-40 people around the 3-4 villages around Adampur Khanti so we talked to around 10-12 people from each village. We submitted the report 5 to 6 days ago to district legal services authority." said Sumant Niware, one of the two paralegal volunteers tasked by the SC order to find out how the health of villagers was affected by the landfill fires. "Residents told us that their water has been polluted, now we don't know the reason why this is so but they gave us examples of water from the handpump and bores being dirty and their water tanks becoming red in colour. They also told us that people have encountered diseases and infections, with their cows also dying due to plastic waste. The elderly residents also conveyed their issues." he added. Padariya sarpanch Roshni Indoriya said they received a letter on June 15 that health camps will be organized from June 18 to 26. A press release issued by the health department said specialists in respiratory disease, skin disease, ophthalmology, and respiratory diseases will examine residents of surrounding villages in the Padariya camps until June 26.
