Sluice gate project at Varthur lake gets a new deadline

Despite having missed several deadlines, the completion of the sluice gate project at Varthur Lake in East Bengaluru by the BDA may take a few more months.

The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) has completed installing sluice gates in the lake and, presently, they are being operated. But about 20 metres of the waste weir is yet to be completed. The entire sluice gate project was supposed to be completed in November last year. But has been delayed due to some reasons. Now, the BDA officials have set April as a new deadline for its completion.

The residents in the vicinity of the lake noticed said the work had been halted for the past one month. One of the workers told DH: “We haven’t received any directions from our contractor yet.”

According to some residents of Varthur, the contractor has not received enough funds from the authority to carry out the work; therefore the work has been halted.

Similarly, the sluice gate work at the Bellandur Lake on Yemalur Kodi side is yet to be completed while the project on the Varthur side has been completed, according to BDA officials.

“We have funds to carry out the sluice gate project at both the lakes. There were some internal problems with the contractor, and it has been sorted out. We will complete the waste weir work at the Varthur Lake by April. The sluice gate work at the Bellandur Lake will take a few months,” said B A Shivananda, an engineer at BDA.

He said the work was halted for some days as the construction of the new bridge adjacent to the old bridge in Varthur demanded diversion of water.

“The BDA is yet to complete the fencing work of the lake. The committee set up by National Green Tribunal (NGT), including experts and scientists, are going to come here for lake inspection, soon. But much of the work is incomplete here,” said Jagadish Reddy, the lake warden.

He added: “A part of the lakebed is filled with excess soil and debris in violation of the NGT directions as minor irrigation department had dug it up long back to set up KC valley pipelines. They are yet to restore the lakebed and clear the soil.”