Trail From the past – Complete conservation of Sirpur Lake, Indore

Indore’s famous Sirpur Lake, which is 120 years old, was a natural bird habitat but fell on bad days due to the negligence of its owners, the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC). TNV, led by its president – an acclaimed environmentalist, Bhalu Mondhe (Padma Shri), took upon itself to conserve the wetland and its flora and fauna. He, along with his young journalist friend Abhilash Khandekar, then working with Free Press Journal as a sports correspondent, set up The Nature Volunteers (TNV) — “An informal pressure group of environmentally restless people”. Their love for the city and its well being was a common point of interest. They teamed up to save Sirpur. It was 5th June 1992. Since then their untiring multi-pronged efforts have resulted in the lake and its biodiversity being protected completely. It took them and their colleagues almost 15 years of sustained efforts which brought back to life this Heritage Lake, the biggest chunk of carbon sink around Indore and ensured it regained its pristine glory. The successful conservation of Sirpur Lake, as an urban water body, is now a well known success story across the country. We refer to it as the Sirpur Bird Sanctuary (SBS) in reverence to the 150 colourful species of resident and migratory birds.