JOIN USTaking umbrage over the continued apathy towards the Bellandur Lake, the High Court of Karnataka pulled up the state government, asking a competent authority to appear on Friday.
Hearing a public interest litigation filed by Rajya Sabha member D Kupendra Reddy and a resident of HSR Layout, a division bench headed by Justice H G Ramesh wondered if any other lake in the world had caught fire like Bellandur did.
Observing that the city is beset by an array of issues like traffic, sanitation, pollution and garbage, the bench stated that the government did not act on the petition, seeking direction to clean up the lake, which was filed in 2015.
When asked by the court to list out the steps the government had taken to monitor the lake, the government council said a panel has been constituted by the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to take measures that would prevent the lake from catching fire.
The court observed that despite the technological prowess of Bengaluru City, the government council did not possess sound technical knowledge to address the issues. It also questioned Bengaluru’s position. Noting that the government has failed on all fronts in maintaining the lake, the court asked the competent monitoring authority to be present before it on Friday, and adjourned the hearing of the case.