11 encroachers continue to occupy 40-acre Doddabidarakallu Lake

Revenue officials have approved the map of the 40-acre Doddabidarakallu Lake in an effort to reclaim the four-acre encroached area.

Encroachment of the 40-acre north Bengaluru lake was flagged 10 years ago, which included the “illegally sanctioned” 2.5-acre land to Radha Soami Satsang Beas.

The map approved by the assistant director of land records has listed more than 11 encroachers. The lake sprawls over two villages — its 23 acres and 21 gunta falls in Doddabidarakallu village, while 16 acres and 36 guntas in the revenue limits of Nagasandra village.

The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) first prepared a report on the lake’s development in 2010 and a year later, spent Rs 1.6 crore without doing much to improve the ground situation.

In its report for the year ending March 2013, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) slammed the BDA for failing to follow the directions of the Lake Development Authority (LDA) before beginning work on the waterbody.

“Even before according technical sanction to the work, LDA had informed (August 2010) the BDA that lake area of 4.18 acres had been irregularly granted to the satsang by the special deputy commissioner despite judgements given by the High Court (WP No 31343/ 95) and the Supreme Court that lake land should not be granted for any other activities,” the CAG noted.

In the new revenue map, the satsang occupies 2 acres and 29 guntas, a large slice of the total encroached area of 3 acres and 34.5 guntas. The document also lists Parle India and Kennametal among 10 other encroachers.

Last year, the BDA handed over the lake to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and then the waterbody breached. The Palike spent Rs 90 lakh to fence and raise the bund to prevent breaches of the lake in future.

“Another DPR was prepared to develop the lake at a cost of Rs 12 crore. Rs 10 crore worth of work was sanctioned, but the BJP government (which replaced the earlier coalition) diverted the funds meant for lake development to build roads in constituencies represented by the party MLAs,” a BBMP source said.

Local resident and Chokkasandra ward committee member Subhash Shetty said the government has failed to recover the encroached lake land. “Comprehensive works are needed to stop the lake from breaching in future. Unfortunately, the government is not taking the matter seriously,” he said. BBMP’s chief engineer for lakes B T Mohan Krishna assured that the lake works will begin once the government releases funds. “We have got approval for works worth Rs 10 crore,” he said.As for the encroachments, Krishna said the court has ordered not to remove them during the Covid-19 crises.