BDA stops rejuvenation ofHosakerehalli Lake yet again

In January, residents watched with hope the brisk pace of the rejuvenation work at the historic Hosakerehalli Lake. But the Bangalore Development Authority inexplicably halted the activities.

The civic agency had several false starts at the rejuvenation work since 2015, but it ended up missing deadlines for completion. Yet again, the halting of activities for the past two months has turned the lake into a garbage dumping yard.

“This is the third time the work has stalled,” said Soujanya Narayan, a resident of Hoskerehalli. “We don’t know when the work will resume. Besides being a garbage dumping yard, the lakebed has also become a hotspot for illegal activities at night.”

Rejuvenation apart, the BDA was supposed to build a walking track, divert sewage from the lake and maintain the park. While it built the diversion channels, made the pathway for the walking track and put up a boundary wall for the lake, the work remains incomplete, owing to a delay in the release of funds, BDA officials said.

“The delay happened since there is no chairman,” a senior official said. “We’ve completed 70% of the work. We’ve asked the contractor to finish the work for now and told him we’d release the payment later. The work will start by next week.”

Though the official said they had stopped the entry of sewage into the lake, residents still complain about the nasty odour from the waterbody.