Army better placed to revive lake, say residents, experts

Departments claim they have know-how for undertaking task

The proposal by the Army to revive Bellandur lake has received a mixed response.

Departments involved in the revival of the lake are claiming that they have expertise to handle the problem, but residents and experts opine that the Army can do a better and faster job.

Mahendra Jain, Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Development Department, and chairperson of the expert committee for restoration of Bellandur lake, said portions of the water body abutting defence areas like near HAL and Agara were well taken care of. Their proposal seems be nice, but a decision will be taken later. 

The Bangalore Development Authority is the custodian of the Bellandur lake. Jain is also the BDA Board chairperson. 

But this proposal has not gone down well with BDA officials. A BDA official said, “BDA has revived many lakes in the past and our engineers are qualified. The help of the Army is not needed. However, a decision will be taken by the Board.” 

The BDA is awaiting government funds to revive 25 lakes under its limits in the last one year. The state government is also awaiting a Rs 500-crore grant from the central government, to revive Bellandur and Varthur lakes. This was promised by Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar during his last visit to Bengaluru, in 2015. 

B V Satish, BBMP executive engineer (lakes), said that the Army has a condition that sewage flow should be stopped. “But 99% of the problem is sewage entering Bellandur lake. Once sewage is stopped, the lake will revive by itself. There is no need for anyone to do anything.” 

 Prof T V Ramachandra from the Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, who is a part of the expert committee, said that allowing the Army to revive the lake was the best solution as so far, nothing has been done. They have technology and expertise. The Army's eco-battalion is doing a good job in cleaning River Ganga.

The government will hand over the task to contractors, who will make money. The contractors and the departments will dry up and desilt the lake. Wet dredging is ideal for such a huge water body and the Army has the technology. 

Former member of the Bellandur Panchayat K Jagannath said that the government was considering the proposal by the Namma Bengaluru Foundation. But, if the Army revives it, then there is no problem, he said.