BBMP suspends two officers for illegal lake work

The BBMP on Monday suspended two engineers for facilitating the construction of a road right through the Hosakerehalli lake by dumping several truckloads of soil into the 57-acre waterbody.

The orders were issued on the direction of Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar who recalled DH reports on the illegal work.

H S Megha, executive engineer (solid waste management), and Shilpa, assistant engineer (lake), have been suspended and disciplinary action has also been initiated against them. However, no action has been taken against chief engineers and special commissioners.

DH had carried multiple reports on the illegal work being carried out inside Hosakerehalli lake.

The first report, titled 'Hosakerehalli lake split in two for unknown civic projects', was published on March 21. The BBMP dumped over 300 truck loads of soil inside the BBMP to create a 25-foot wide ‘walking path’, which looked like a road.

The next day, the civic body defended the work, stating the temporary road was being built to desilt the lake. DH, however, found out that the BBMP had not taken permission to desilt the lake from the Karnataka Tank Conservation and Development Authority (KTCDA).

After the second report, the BBMP wrote to the KTCDA seeking approval to ‘develop’ the lake at an estimated cost of Rs 14 crore.

Speaking to the reporters on Monday, Shivakumar recalled the reports published specifically in DH on the illegal road project inside RR Nagar’s prime waterbody. “Since there was an election, I could not focus much on that. I have instructed BBMP Chief Commissioner Tushar Girinath to provide information about this by evening,” he said.

What is notable in the episode is that the contractor had begun the work inside the lake without the prior approval of the KTCDA.

Other than the lake work, the BBMP’s storm-water drain department was building a sewage diversion drain and the solid waste management division was building a wall to prevent garbage dumping inside the lake. None of these works were approved by the authority.

Joseph Hoover, a conservationist from RR Nagar, visited the lake on Monday only to find the water body in a state of neglect. His videos of the lake, where earthmovers were dumping soil, had gone viral, calling for immediate attention from the authorities.

“I am happy with the government’s decision to suspend engineers,” he said. “The BBMP has been taking haphazard work without any planning. The lake must be revived,” he said.