JOIN USThe Bangalore Development Authority will start weeding at the Bellandur lake from Monday.
The decision comes in the wake of a meeting chaired by chief secretary Subhash Chandra Khuntia with stakeholders of the lake on Friday, two days after the National Green Tribunal cracked the whip on its clean-up.
The BDA, custodian of the lake, on Saturday issued orders to clear weeds from the 900-acre water body at a cost of Rs 3.35 crore, P N Nayak, BDA engineer-member, told DH.
Earlier, the BDA had set aside Rs 3.75 crore for the weeding. Private contractor Harvin Engineering, however, quoted Rs 3.35 crore, Nayak said.
The tribunal has given the state government one month to restore the lake. “It is not possible to rejuvenate the lake in a month. It is a long-term project. Directions have been issued to the contractor to complete the weeding in three months,” Nayak said.
The BDA had invited an expression of interest (EoI) in February to undertaking the weeding.
Harvins Construction Private Limited, Somu Enterprises Private Limited, Gujarat Eco Microbial Technologies Private Limited and Euro Tech Environmental Private Limited had sent in their proposals. But none of them were accepted, following which their tenders were cancelled, he said.
Conditions relaxed
Later, the BDA relaxed the conditions specified in the EoI, which included introducing dissolved oxygen into the lake and using weeds to generate biogas or electricity or convert it into organic manure, and called for a short-term tender.
Nayak, however, said that now “there was no such thinking”. “The BDA is planning to allot some space on the lake embankment to store the weed. As weed is used as cattle feed, we will allow farmers to use it,” he said.