KSPCB failed to monitor water quality in city lakes: CAG report

The Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has failed to properly monitor the quality of water in the city's lakes.  

It also failed to enforce NGT orders on closing down  industrial  units that  discharge  sewage into the lake, the Comptroller Audit General of India (CAG) has found.  

The CAG  expressed particular concern about the  quality of water in the city's largest water body, Bellandur Lake. The lake changed hands, from the BBMP to the BDA. The BDA fenced the lake at a cost of Rs 3.31 crore. But there is no proper action plan to revive the waterbody, the CAG report notes.  

Following the NGT orders, the pollution control board identified 488 polluting  industries.  In November 2010, the  high  court ordered a committee to check the ground status of lakes and submit a  plan to conserve them. The board appointed BBMP officials  to keep a  check on 189 lakes in the city.

In 2011-12, the board checked the status of 90 lakes and promised to supervise the remaining 99 in the coming days. In 2014-15, it checked 67 lakes. But the board failed to inspect any lake, the CAG report states.