JOIN USOne more water body in the City appears to be disappearing fast, with hunderds of truckloads of soil being dumped into Chunchaghatta lake.
The People’s Campaign for Right to Water (PCRW), a non-government organisation, which noticed the illegal activity, has lodged a complaint with the chief secretary to the State government, commissioners of BBMP and BDA, deputy commissioner of Bangalore Urban district, Bangalore South tahsildar, Lake Development Authority and Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force, but to no avail.
“We personally met all the officers, submitted memorandums to them, but to no avail. Later, we chanced upon another shocking document of the BDA, which gave us the idea that the levelling of the lake was way beyond a mischievous act of some unknown land grabbers,” M Eshwarappa of PCRW told Deccan Herald.
The document - an action plan of the BDA for 2011-14 for restoring lakes in its custody - showed the extent of the lake as 14 acres and 14 guntas.
On the contrary, when the PCRW went through Record of Rights, Tenancy and Crops (RTC), Tippani, village maps, and other revenue documents, they were surprised to see that the extent of the lake was, in fact, 23 acres and 30 guntas spread across two survey numbers.
“The BDA is the culprit in aiding land grabbers, reducing the extent of the lake and tampering with government documents. The government should deal with it sternly,” Eshwarappa said.
Meanwhile, a visit to the area unveiled a newly constructed temple and many slums that had come up in no time.
Eshwarappa added that many senior officials did not respond to his calls. “Land grabbing is happening in a very organised manner,” rued the activist.