Why Bellandur wetland allotted to builder, House panel asks KIADB

MLA K B Koliwad, who heads the Legislature panel on lake encroachment in Bengaluru, has directed the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) to explain the circumstances under which the Bellandur wetland was allotted to a private builder instead of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) to set up a sewage treatment plant (STP).

At a meeting prior to the committee's visit to some prominent lakes, which have either become extinct or facing existential threat, Koliwad also sought to know why the Bangalore Development Authority and the ISKCON among other encroachers have not replied to the notice on illegal occupation of Kacharakanahalli Lake in the city, which has lost all its features.

A series of news reports and a batch of petitions in various courts related to the encroachment of lakes in the city compelled the government to finally form a House Panel. The panel members include Rajajinagar MLA S Suresh Kumar, Bengaluru South MLA M Krishnappa, former chief minister and JD(S) state president H D Kumaraswamy.

Koliwad said the BWSSB had written in 2004 to the deputy commissioner of Bengaluru Urban district seeking land to set up the STP. Accordingly, 9.3 hectares of land was acquired through the KIADB. However, the KIADB allotted the land in question to a private builder.

“The KIADB has asked the BWSSB to find an alternative land instead of the one acquired for the STP. The KIADB should explain from whom it had acquired and under which circumstances the BWSSB was asked to set up the STP at another location to treat sewage coming to Bellandur Lake,” Koliwad said. He told the reporters that the lake is spread over 910 acres. The encroachment is about 25 acres and 35 guntas, where a private industry is coming up.

A mere 37 acres

Residents fighting to protect Sankey Tank from land grabbers, quoting documents, told the House panel that the water holding area of the lake was 55 acres, as per the Arkavathi series published in the early 20th Century. Now it has reduced to a mere 37 acres.

V N Ramaswami, a member of Citizens' Action Forum (CAF) asked the committee, “The existing tank area in government records is merely 46 acres while the water holding capacity is only 37 acres. We want to know where the remaining 10 acres have gone including its embankment.”

Ramaswami briefed the panel members that a builder has encroached upon seven acres of tank area, which is basically the rainwater feeder canal of the tank. If the project becomes a reality, then one of the prominent landmarks would disappear from the Bengaluru map, he said. The committee also visited Ammanikere-Linganahalli tank, Avalahalli Singasandra tank and Kacharakanahalli tank.