Bureaucratic inertia hits plan to revive B'luru's dying lakes

The state government’s plan to revive lakes in Bengaluru seems to have hit stalemate. Forget removing existing encroachments on lakes, the district administrative machinery is not even cracking down on potential land-grabbers. Officials say they can’t take action until the government decides on the yet-to-be-submitted report of the legislature committee on lake encroachments headed by Speaker K B Koliwad. The inertia could prove costly as lakes on deathbed could be revived if the government and its various arms act swiftly.

Eshwarappa, who is associated with People’s Campaign for Right to Water, said there were several lakes that faced fresh encroachment as the government agencies had become indifferent. “We are seeing fresh encroachments happening everywhere. I have personally seen new encroachments at Ele Mallapa Shetty lake on Hoskote Road near KR Puram, Horamavu Agara lake, Benniganahalli lake, Subramanyapura lake, Chikka Kallasandra lake and Sarakki lake. We gave several representations to various agencies but to no avail. The government is not keen on lake conservation,” he said.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has drawn an action plan for revival of seven lakes, including Sarakki and Subramanyapura lakes. It received the government’s approval and called tenders. The Palike intends to set up sewage treatment plants, lay sewage diversion pipes, de-silt lakes and beautify them.

The biggest hurdle, however, is encroachment on these lakes. BBMP chief engineer (lakes) S Somashekar said he wrote to the district authorities to clear encroachments but there was no response. “I tried to make several phone calls to the officials concerned but no one returned them. We want the tahsildars to demarcate the boundary of each lake and remove encroachments on it. But this is not happening,” he said.

When contacted, Bengaluru South Tahsildar S M Shivakumar said, “The legislature committee headed by Speaker K B Koliwad was constituted to look into lake encroachments. We are waiting for the government to take a decision once the report is submitted.”

Koliwad maintained that there are no restrictions on the district authorities to crack down on lake encroachments. “The survey has been conducted and encroachments have been identified. It is the duty of the executive (bureaucrats) to clear the encroachments. Nobody has stopped them. In fact, nobody had ever stopped them. We can only submit our report, which we will do in due course,” he said.

Rajajinagar MLA S Suresh Kumar, who resigned from the committee last December in protest against Koliwad continuing to head the panel despite being elected Speaker, echoed him. “These are just lame excuses. Nobody can stop the authorities from stopping fresh lake encroachments. They are empowered enough to act.” He conceded that a majority of lakes were in a pathetic state but could be revived.