DC orders survey of water bodies

In a district level meeting of the Lake Development Authority, Deputy Commissioner of Mysore, Ramegowda instructed for a survey of lakes and tanks in the district.

In a meeting comprising officials from Mysore Urban Development Authority, Mysore City Corporation, Revenue Department and officials from various taluks, the sorry state of several lakes within city limits and the district drew flak.

Following a High Court order, a comprehensive survey on the State lakes, extent of encroachment of lakes, details on individuals who have encroached lakes, litigations of encroached land and others were sought by the DC.

“Encroached land will be seized by the district administration. Tahsildars of respective taluks will head teams to clear the encroachment of lakes in the district,” he said.

At the meeting, officials of the department of Irrigation said that surveys of the lakes in the district has not been done in the past few years, as “there were no surveyors in the department”.

Officials of Karnataka State Pollution Control Board said that only a “small amounts of contamination” was observed in Hebbal, Dalvoy and other lakes in the city.

The DC has sought details on whether any lake had been adopted by individuals to promote tourism and maintain it.

During the meeting, it was revealed that eight lakes in Mysore city was under the purview of MCC, five under MUDA and five under the department of Forests.

The DC has instructed that only treated effluents should be discharged into lakes.