On a warm Sunday morning, as groups of volunteers set out to clean the Ameenpur lake, they had a surprise in store. It was a checkered keelback struck in a net and two volunteers — Pradeep Nair and Amar Nath of Hyderabad Birding Pals heard its cry for help. “Keelback is a water snake and not venomous at all. We were happy that we did some good cause besides fulfilling our agenda,” beams Anshumaan Jha of Hyderabad Birding Pals.
As an ardent birdwatcher, Anshumaan has made countless trips to Ameenpur Lake. “It is home to different varieties of migratory birds and a paradise for bird lovers,” he says with a smile. All the bird walks organised by Hyderabad Birding Pals on Sundays are eagerly awaited. “It is sad to watch the lake deteriorate,” says Anshumaan. The group had organised a first clean-up drive of Ameenpur lake on June 7. The drive caught the eye of Tejdeep Kaur Menon, IPS (Director-General, Special Protection Force). The clean-up drive on June 28 was the second one.
Apart from the Hyderabad Birding Pals and a couple of women from Phulkari, one could see Tejdeep Kaur Menon leading the drive from the front along with her guards.
“Thanks to Tejdeep mam’s support and her police force, the cleaning was a swift affair and completed in three hours,” states Anshumaan and adds, “At the small lake behind the big lake, it was a sight to see a family of Kingfisher birds enjoying their Sunday sojourn.”
For Tejdeep, it was a different kind of experience. “It is a Sunday well spent,” she smiles while lending a hand in planting trees on the Police Academy. “I was a dormant member of Hyderabad Birding Pals and the 54 acres of our Academy abuts the lake. The lake is home to many birds and we decided to take up the work. All the members of my team are savouring every bit of the cleaning work,” she explains.
The clean-up drive found all sorts of stuff; from plastic bottles, baby diapers, hair and broken glasses to saris, shirts and bags. The garbage and dirt was cleared out by two tractors of GHMC. Anshumaan also highlights the issue of encroachments and water tankers stealing water from the Ameenpur lake.
Now the onus to take up the cleaning drive at the birding paradise outside Hyderabad. “We plan to focus on Anantagiri Hills, Fox Sagar lake and Hasmathpet lake,” he points out. As future plans, Tejdeep wants to take it up as a sustainable project. “The Hyderabad Birding Pals group will join and support her when the clean-up will take up at non birding hotspots,” states Anshumaan.
