Soil dumped at Varthur lakebed yet to be cleared

A group of like-minded individuals, who have taken up desilting work at Varthur Lake, is facing a new problem: soil dumped by the minor irrigation department, which dug up a part of the lakebed to lay the Koramangala Challaghatta Valley pipeline.

It has been more than six months since the department completed the KC Valley pipeline work. However, the soil dumped on the lakebed is yet to be removed. Lake wardens have complained that the dumped soil is a major hindrance to desilting the waterbody.

The team, comprising several citizen activists, has already begun preliminary work on desilting the lake and will take up the work on full scale in the coming weeks.

"The minor irrigation department was supposed to clear the soil on the lakebed within a month of the completion of the pipeline work. But it has been more than six months and we are yet to see any action. We are going to begin desilting in the coming weeks. Clearing the soil will be a huge burden to the executing company that's desilting the lake," a lake wardens said.

"Citizens had requested the BDA and minor irrigation department not to issue a no-objection certificate to the company that executed the KC Valley project. Now, the soil dumped into the Varthur lakebed is abundant. The department has clearly violated the guidelines of the National Green Tribunal by taking up digging work in the buffer zone to install pipelines," the lake warden added.

"We have already cleared soil from some parts of the lakebed. The work is under progress and we will finish it by the end of November," said G T Thimmegowda, executive engineer, minor irrigation department.

The delay in building sluice gates for the lake is another concern for residents. The gates were supposed to be built by July, but the BDA is dragging its feet in completing the project.