BBMP to move SC over NGT lake penalty

The BBMP has decided to appeal to the Supreme Court over the recent National Green Tribunal (NGT) ruling, where the civic body was penalised Rs 25 crore for the poor condition of the Bellandur and Varthur lakes.

A week ago, the NGT had slapped a fine of Rs 25 crore to the BBMP for dumping construction debris and other waste materials in Varthur lake.

In a meeting held with Deputy Chief Minister, G Parameshwara on Thursday, the civic body decided to appeal to the apex court. “We will appeal against this as we are not solely responsible for the problem,” said BBMP Commissioner, N Manjunath Prasad.

He also said that other agencies such as the BWSSB and the Minor Irrigation Department will also look into the issue, and appeal to the apex court after internal meetings.

Minor Irrigation and Water Resources Minister, C S Puttaraju, Industries Minister, K J George, Additional chief secretary, Mahendra Jain, BWSSB Chairman, Tushar Girinath and BBMP Commissioner, N Manjunath Prasad were among those who attended the meeting.