Powerful ‘govt’ forces allowed Bengaluru luxury project on sensitive lake land: NGT

Activists vow not to rest until Kaikondrahalli Lake buffer zone is restored

The full bench ruling of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which has censured a luxury development project in the Kaikondrahalli Lake buffer zone, has highlighted powerful government interests’ hand-in-glove with corporate entities.

The ruling has not only slapped a staggering Rs 31-crore fine on the developers — Godrej Properties Ltd and Wonder Projects Development Pvt Ltd — but also calls for the restoration of the lake buffer zone, once made of pristine wetlands, and its direct zone of influence.

Members of the Mahadevapura Parisara Samrakshane Mattu Abhivrudhi Samiti (MAPSAS), one of the petitioners, described the ruling as a victory for citizens. “The case illustrates that the onus is on ordinary citizens to fight legal battles to set right matters created by the government,” a member said.

A BBMP officer admitted that the NGT ruling was a “landmark” event that will affect future construction activities near lakes.

Who cleared the project?

At the same time, questions have been raised about how clearance for the project could have been given by different government bodies, even though the development of this tract of land, set between Kaikondrahalli and Kasavanahalli lakes in Mahadevapura Zone, was a violation of laws.

Supreme Court Advocate P Ramprasad, who represented the petitioners, said the severity of the ruling was prompted by the government’s misrepresentation of facts.

Also read: NGT quashes environmental clearance to luxury project in Bengaluru, orders immediate demolition

The ruling asks to penalise errant officers and raze the Godrej structure. It also stated that the BBMP and the State Wetland Authority (overseen by the Central Pollution Control Board and Karnataka State Pollution Control Board) must come up with a plan to restore the natural ecosystem within two months. However, the petitioners are cautious.

“The governmental bodies that caused the problem in the first place have been asked to correct it. The NGT ruling does not provide a means for citizen groups to provide oversight on these government agencies to rectify what has been done,”
said a member of MAPSAS.

“The lake has only gotten a temporary reprieve. We cannot be content until the restoration of the environment takes place. It took over a century for nature to create the ecosystem of the two lakes. It has taken humans five years to destroy."

Passing the buck

Officials blamed other departments for the problem.

R Venkatachalapathi, Joint Commissioner, Mahadevapura Zone, said the issue did not come under the jurisdiction of the zonal office, but eith the BBMP’s stormwater drain (SWD) and lakes department.

Mohankrishna B T, Chief Engineer, Lakes Department, stressed that the ruling primarily concerned the dislocation of stormwater drains and lake buffer zones, which came under the aegis of the SWD and zonal offices, respectively.

Other government officers could not be reached for comment.