In a noble gesture, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Saturday handed over the fully restored Ittgalpura and Sadenahalli lakes to the local authorities, a long-term project the IPL outfit undertook under its Go Green Initiative. From here on, the local community will maintain the lakes for water security and combat the risk of water crisis in the surrounding regions. “RCB’s Lake Improvement Works Project, launched in October 2023, was designed to improve the drought resistance in highly water stressed areas in Bengaluru which lack access to natural source of water and are totally dependent on groundwater and surface water,” said Rajesh Menon, Vice President and Head of RCB.

For this project, RCB entered into an implementation partnership with the India Cares Foundation and Friends of Lakes.

As part of the nearly 300-day project, over 50,000 tons of silt and sand were meticulously removed, with much of it repurposed by local farmers for plantation efforts.

Furthering the project’s ecological vision, RCB also planted over 3,000 trees along the newly widened bunds of the lakes to help manage flooding and add to the local biodiversity.