India, May 9 -- In a first-of-its-kind ecological intervention in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, the Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) on Thursday launched a biological-control campaign to clear invasive aquatic weeds choking the historic Vadale Lake, one of Panvel's oldest and most ecologically significant water bodies.

As part of the initiative, the civic body released cyrtobagous salviniae weevils-tiny aquatic insects that feed exclusively on the invasive Salvinia molesta weed-into the lake to naturally destroy the rapidly spreading floating plant.

Spread across nearly 25 acres near the old Mumbai-Pune highway in Old Panvel, Vadale Lake is believed to be nearly 400 years old. Environmentalists often describe it as the "ecological l...