Govt agencies need to wake up on NGT order on Kaikondrahalli lake, say activists

Activists said that they would wait for the government agencies to take note of the order and initiate suitable action

A day after the NGT cancelled the environmental clearance given to apartments by Godrej coming up near Kaikondrahalli Lake, the civil society body that has been fighting for the waterbody said they would continue their struggle against its encroachment.

A representative of the Mahadevapura Parisara Samrakshane Mattu Abhivrudhi Samiti (Mapsas) said the verdict has given them hope. “It gives us hope that there is at least one body in the country that will help us protect our environment. But more needs to be done by government agencies as there are several major buffer zone violations that are yet to come under the scanner," the representative said.

Mapsas was not only instrumental in the rejuvenation of the lake, but kept a vigil on the development in the area to monitor violations of the rules. However, government agencies remained mute spectators though the Samiti brought the violations to their notice.

The report of the joint committee, which inspected the lake following an order by the National Green Tribunal, had listed a string of violations, from a graveyard to major apartment complexes that have come up in the lake's buffer zone.

While the NGT order focused on one builder, there are three other builders who also obtained clearances from the State Environment Impact Assessment Authority as well as consent to establishment and operation by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board.

The committee suggested that the sewage diversion lines — building during the time of rejuvenation by BBMP and Mapsas — have to be maintained well by the BWSSB.

It also noted that the BWSSB has to plan for a sewage treatment plant to treat the entire waste water to ensure that only storm water enters the lake through wetland.

The committee had flagged the BBMP's use of land next to the lake for waste segregation and "authorities concerned shall be directed to take appropriate action to clear the violations/encroachment noticed in the existing properties and activities in the buffer area".