Major fire in buffer zone of Bellandur Lake

A huge fire broke out in the buffer zone of Bellandur Lake on Sunday afternoon, the tenth such incident this year. It took lake marshals and the fire and emergency department nearly two hours to douse the flames. According to Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) officials, the fire started around 4.15 pm and spread rapidly.

The first fire incident occurred in January. Sunday’s fire is the second such incident in December alone.

According to officials at the spot, the fire started at Iblur side of the lake, behind the construction site of a prestigious apartment complex. The area was abandoned by the builder after the National Green Tribunal took note of buffer zone violations and ordered to close the construction site, said a BDA official.

The fire started in a 250 sqft area but spread to 4-5 acres of dry grassland in the buffer zone. The private property of the builder, including what appeared to be construction materials, have been gutted. Since the area is fenced, marshals have limited access. This gives the miscreants space, the BDA official said.

Col Rajbir, Lake Marshal, said this was the third incident in the same location, in one year. He recollected: “It was the same place where we nabbed three people for burning wires and seized 90 kg of copper a month ago. There is a need for a thorough probe.”

Sonali Singh, Member of Citizen Watch Group, said that all the fire incidents were man-made and they indicate a deliberate act by miscreants.

On Sunday, two fire tenders were pressed into service.

“We started dousing the fire from the buffer zone and lake side to ensure that it does not spread further towards ST Bed side in Koramangala. Later, we moved towards the undulated areas. Though the news broke at 4.15 pm, it took the team 30 minutes to reach the spot because the flames were high and the surface uneven. It took the fire team another 30 minutes to reach and bring things under control,” a marshal told DH.