JOIN US The 100-year-old Arakere Lake near Bannerghatta Road may soon be history if steps are not taken to revive and preserve it.
Once filled with clean water, it now brims with dirty sewage water and overgrown weeds. The residents are facing problems due to the neglected state of the lake. Every once in a while, when the Arakere Lake breaches, houses around the lake are flooded with sewage water.
It’s neglect has turned the southwest side near Hulimavu Gate into a public urinal and waste dumping site. K Swamy, a resident, laments that due to the rapid mushrooming of apartments and commercial establishments, the lake has deteriorated.
“Besides people dumping all kinds of waste and debris, butchers throw chicken carcasses and offals into the lake,” he adds.
Another major issue which the lake faces is illegal encroachments shrinking the water body. The east and south side are teeming with many buildings.
Arakere Neighbourhood Improvement Trust (ANIT), formed in June 2012, has been fighting against encroachments with the tahsildar but to no avail.
“We want the authorities to bypass all sewage pipelines and let only the stormwater drain into the lake after treating the water,” said Arbind Gupta of ANIT.
As a last resort, the residents are planning to form a human chain and conduct an awareness campaign to draw the civic authorities’ attention towards the lake’s restoration.
Meanwhile, Rajasekaran, assistant engineer, BDA, said the civic agency had drawn up a detailed project report (DPR), approved by the Lake Development Authority (LDA).
“Once the authorities give us the go-ahead, we will start de-silting, sewage diversion, garbage clearance and other developmental activities. For this, we need support from Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board as well as BBMP authorities,” he said.