JOIN USThe garbage and debris mafia has sounded the death knell for one more tank in the City. Janardhanakere, the water body near Isro Layout, off Kanakapura Road, is on the brink of extinction.
Spotting the water body is not easy as it is nestled amid three localities, away from the main road.
Illegal dumping of debris near the tank has facilitated the land mafia and encroachers to come up with unauthorised constructions.
Moreover, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike has elaborate plans to link the tank to a stormwater drain, which will make matters worse for the tank. Stormwater drains, though meant for carrying rainwater, have now turned conduits for sewage.
The Forest department, which is the custodian of the seven-acre tank, has put up a notice board warning people not to encroach or dump debris and garbage into it.
However, the warning appears to have no effect as dumping of garbage and encroachment near the tank is continuing unabated.
Helping mafia
Local residents allege that the government is out to help the mafia killing the tank.
Satish, a local resident, said: “The water body was quite huge, but rampant waste dumping and encroachment have shrunk it to seven acres from 25 acres. While many houses on revenue sites have come up around the water body, children got a new playground on the tank bed, he said. Phanisai Bharadwaj, a resident of VV Nagar, remembers the grandeur of the Janardhanakere when it was full of clear water.
He said the tank used to overflow through the stormwater drain during rains and fill the Vasanthapura Kalyani (temple-tank) and Devarakere in the neighbourhood.
“Hardly five years ago, the tank was full of clean water. Tragically, the network of stormwater drain has become a thing of the past.”
Others too follow suit
The Vasanthapura Kalyani and the Devarakere too are on the verge of extinction, Bharadwaj rued.