· Rotary Clubs of Jayanagar, J.P. Nagar, Cubbon Park, Bangalore Southwest and Bangalore South, and Project Agastya are partners

· Inaugural function features panel discussion

· Issues such as arresting depletion of the water table and improving lakes discussed

BANGALORE: Clean Bangalore, Green Bangalore, an urban environment programme, was launched here on Saturday.

The programme has five Rotary Clubs of Bangalore South region and Project Agastya as partners.

The participating clubs are Rotary Bangalore Jayanagar, J.P. Nagar, Cubbon Park, Bangalore Southwest and Bangalore South.

In the next few months, the campaign is expected to focus on creating awareness among citizens on how to improve urban Bangalore.

Advise to Rotarians

Inaugurating the campaign, Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) Chairman N. Bhoomanand Maney urged Rotarians across Bangalore to play an active role in creating awareness about environment protection issues and, in turn, rope in citizens for the cause.

`Unrealistic'

He said it was unrealistic to expect the Government or a regulatory authority such as KSPCB to take up environmental causes such as water and energy conservation all on its own.

Rules or stipulations will also not help bring in any tangible progress in the areas of water or air pollution unless there is a strong people's participation, he felt.

Pro-active stand

Mr. Maney said the Rotary Club, with its membership and pro-active stand, should, therefore, take the first few steps.

The inaugural function also featured a panel discussion, where speakers, including environmentalist Suresh Heblikar and Chief Engineer of Monitoring (South) C.W.C. Rajan Nair, debated on issues pertaining to Bangalore.

It was unanimously agreed that the green cover of Bangalore was fast depleting and efforts should be made to protect it. Issues such as arresting the depletion of the water table and improving lakes in and around Bangalore with public-private participation were discussed.