Green groups bring out report on lake encroachment

Environment protection groups, Save Bangalore Lakes Trust (SBLT) and Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF), have brought out a report on the encroachment of lakes in the City.

The 209-page report, titled ‘Phase 1-Lake Encroachment Report,’ has been compiled after surveying 43 lakes.

It essentially contains information on the total area, encroachment, BBMP action plan and survey number of the lakes, besides maps and satellite images.

While 16 lakes were visited by volunteers from NBF, under the guidance of BBMP officers, information on the 27 others has been provided by the SBLT team with assistance from lake associations and residents in the vicinity of the water bodies. The volunteers started the survey in January this year and compiled the report recently.

“While surveying the Madiwala lake, we found that the south-west corner of the lake had been encroached by builders and many temporary huts constructed. At present, there is a plan for laying underground sewage pipes along the periphery of the lake. At Arekere lake, which is spread over about 35 acres, sewage is being discharged from the south-west corner and industrial waste from the north-west corner,” said Dr Arbind Gupta, co-founder of SBLT.

The report mentions that the Palanahalli lake has been encroached upon by people from Palanahalli village. There is a village link road that runs across the lake area and no efforts have been made till date to protect the water body, the report says.

Water hyacinths, garbage

N R Sudheer, vice chairman of Sarakki Lake Area Improvement Trust, said: “We observed that the Sarakki lake is full of water hyacinths and garbage. It is also surrounded by illegal constructions.”

“According to a recent survey by the tahsildar of Bangalore South, the lake in JP Nagar has at least 135 encroachments around its periphery. The lake area is spread across 83 acres, of which 2.5 acres have been encroached upon by private parties.”

SBLT and NBF, along with like-minded organisations, will soon bring out the ‘Phase 2-Lake Encroachment Report.’

“We plan to survey BDA and Lake Development Authority lakes, in addition to the BBMP lakes,” said Gupta.