'Kaggadasapura Lake has 23 encroachments by private persons'

There are 23 encroachments by private people on Kaggadasapura Lake, the state government has informed the high court.

In affidavit filed before a division bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka, Mahendra Jain, Additional Chief Secretary, Urban Development Department, assured that the encroachments will be expeditiously removed.

The court had directed the government to place on record steps taken to remove the encroachments from Kaggadasapura, Begur and Subramanyapura lakes.

Quoting a survey, the affidavit stated that the total extent of Kaggadasapur Lake is 47 acres (32.16 acres in Kaggadasapura village and 14.24 acres in Byrasandra village). There is an encroachment of 1.29 acres in Kaggadasapura and 1.29 acres in Byrasandra by private people.

The total extent of Begur Lake is 137.24 acres, of which 6.3 acres have been encroached upon by private individuals while another 3.26 acres have been used for the construction of a road, the affidavit stated.

This apart, some excavated soil has been deposited in the buffer zone of the lake while no soil was deposited inside the lake, which is in the custody of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), according to the affidavit.

Similarly, while the total extent of Subramanyapura Lake in Uttarahalli is 25.6 acres, revenue records show the lake area to be 18.6 acres.The jurisdictional tahsildar and survey officials have sought four weeks for doing a fresh survey, the affidavit said.

The member secretary of the State Level Apex Committee, which held four meetings until January 2021 over lake encroachments, has received 16 complaints. The member secretary has directed all the deputy commissioners, including those in Bengaluru Urban, Rural and Belagavi, to submit soft copies of the water body surveys carried out in their respective districts. They were also directed to furnish the names of the lakes surveyed, encroachments identified, the extent of encroachments removed and those yet to be removed.