JOIN US The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has prepared an action plan to revive temple tanks (kalyanis) in the city, the majority of which are in bad condition.
One of the major challenges in the revival of kalyanis is cleaning the blocked feeder canals. Most of these kalyanis were connected to one lake or the other. But due to rapid urbanisation, they have disappeared or are on the verge of extinction. In the budget for 2016-17, the BBMP has laid greater emphasis on revival of lakes and increased its spending. The state government has allocated Rs 250 crore for Bengaluru lakes in its budget for 2016-17.
Mayor G Padmavathi told DH that the government had released funds for the rejuvenation of lakes, of which Rs 150 crore would be used for reviving kalyanis. Bengaluru has historic kalyanis at Nandi temple in Malleswaram, Lakshmi Narasimha temple at Chickpet, Kashi Vishwanath temple, Someshwara temple at Halasuru, Vasantha Vallabharaya temple in Vasanthapura, Rama temple at Gavi Mutt and a temple at Seshadripuram.
The temple tanks were built after extensive soil testing. “I believe the temple tanks were developed only at those places where the ground water table was very high,” she said. “Besides being connected through water canals, these kalyanis have their own water sources. They have dried up as their canals are blocked, silt has accumulated and they have not been cleaned in ages.”
Padmavathi said she would hold a meeting with officials from the BBMP’s lake division and the BWSSB on November 19 to discuss the temple tank rejuvenation programme.