MGR memorial

MGR memorial is a memorial structure built on the Marina beach in Chennai, India. It was built in memory of former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M. G. Ramachandran. Spread over 8.25 acres, the memorial is located adjacent to the Anna Memorial and has the highest footfall on the seafront

The memorial was built in 1988 and was inaugurated by Janaki Ramachandran, wife of M. G. Ramachandran, in May 1990.[2] The memorial was remodelled and the whole complex was laid with marbles and opened in 1992 by J. Jayalalitha when she became the chief minister of the state of Tamil Nadu the previous year. This structure was designed by Architect Mr. K. Ramachandran, retired chief architect of PWD, Tamil Nadu. Between 1996 and 1998, the mausoleum was again renovated at a cost of about ₹ 27.5 million. After the Indian Ocean tsunami struck the seafront in December 2004, the memorial was affected. Repair works were taken up at the cost of about ₹ 13.3 million.[3]

In 2012, the memorial was again renovated at a cost of ₹ 43 million, including ₹ 34 million for remodelling the facade and the wall around the memorial.[4] The renovation included a new entrance sporting AIADMK party's two-leaves symbol and Pegasus, the horse from Greek mythology, landscaping the open area around the memorial using Korean grass, and planting exotic decorative plants such as palmyra alpha, date palm, spider lily and atinium, a granite pathway shaped like a massive guitar in the middle of the memorial, stainless steel handles around the memorial, a fountain in the middle, waterfall at the rear, decorative lamps, and an overhead tower with lights both at the entrance and on the arch.[1][5] Two pergolas having 18-metre width have also been constructed, in addition to ramps for the physically challenged.[4]

The erection of the two-leaves insignia was opposed by the opposition DMK party.[6] A public interest writ petition was filed in the Madras High Court in October 2012 against the erection of the two-leaves insignia,[7] but was dismissed by the court

Ulsoor Lake

Ulsoor Lake, one of the biggest lakes in Bangalore, is located on the eastern side of the city. It derives its name from the name of the locality it is situated, namely, Ulsoor, close to M G Road. It is spread over 50 ha (123.6 acres)) and has several islands. Even though the lake is dated to Kempegowdas’ time, the present lake was created by Sir Lewin Bentham Bowring, the then Commissioner of Bangalore.

The lake was subject to several types of pollution threats.

Water quality

The health of the lake eco-system was, therefore, monitored at six monitoring points on the lake for light, temperature, oxygen, nutrients and the type of aquatic plants that grow in the lake. During the study, it was noted that the lake which has catchment area of 1.5 km2 (0.6 sq mi) is fed by three drains at different locations; the first drain is from the Madras Engineering Group (MEG) Centre (of the Army), the second drain is from Jeevanahalli and the third drain is from Doddigunta and traverses through Kattariyamma garden, Godhandappa garden, Munivenkattappa garden, Muthamma garden, Muniamma garden, Kempurayana Garden and New Corporation colony and all these areas are within 1 km (0.6 mi) from the lake and inhabited by slums dwellers.[10] The study showed that the daytime DO was very high; varying between 0.2 and 4.5 mg/L. The saprobic nature of the lake water was confirmed by the P/R ratio which was less than one. Eutrophication of the lake was confirmed by further studies which indicated phosphate, nitrogen and chlorophyll levels to be high; with Blue green algae (which is toxicand utilises DO in the night) called the microcystis was noted from surface to bottom of the lake. This affected the aquatic plants and fish (only a few fish species remained). Further studies established the presence of high concentrations of zinc and the metal content in water samples, concentration of Zn, Cd, Cr, Pb and Cu content was found to be very high in sludge samples with depth sludge recorded as about 1.55 m (5.1 ft).