BMRCL begins rejuvenating Kengeri, Veerasandra Lakes

The BMRCL has overcome initial hurdles to rejuvenate the Kengeri and Veerasandra Lakes, offering a new lease of life for the twin waterbodies ravaged by unchecked development.

Though the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) called tenders to rejuvenate the Kengeri Lake in January 2017, it could not go ahead with the project due to stringent conditions laid by the now defunct Karnataka Lake Conservation and Development Authority (KLCDA), said an official.

An official involved in the project said despite working on the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for over a year, clearing encroachments and getting KLCDA approvals stalled its progress. The stricter tender conditions could not help in finding a bidder to clean the Kengeri Lake.

But the BMRCL succeeded with the third tender and awarded the project to MR Protech Pvt Ltd for Rs 7 crore. "The BWSSB should divert the sewage lines and the BBMP should clear the waste. We were also working on cost sharing with the civic agencies," an official said.
BMRCL spokesperson U A Vasanth Rao said they hired a company to prepare the DPR for both the lakes.

"From the children's play area to the drains that feed the runoff water from metro viaduct, the lakes will get a comprehensive makeover," he said. Rao said the contract could not be finalised in the past three months due to the elections. "We were also looking for sponsors under the corporate social responsibility (CSR), but finally decided to go ahead on our own," he said.

They managed to find a benefactor for the Veerasandra Lake in Titan Industries, who agreed to execute the rejuvenation for Rs 8 crore and invest a further Rs 4 crore in the coming days.

Officials said preliminary work on restoring the waterbodies has begun and the project would be completed in a year's time.