Palike builds anganawadi, badminton court on lake bed

In a classic case of fence eating the crop, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has constructed an anganwadi and a badminton court on the Hulimavu lakebed.

This has paved the way for more than 1,000 illegal structures to come up on the lakebed.
According to BBMP sources, the lake was handed over to the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) a few years ago. However, the BDA could not develop the lake due to funds crunch.

As a result, hundreds of settlements cropped up on the lakebed. As is the standard procedure in any encroachment, temples were built on the lakebed first. Further, residential layouts with genuine ‘A’ khatha also came up. Several boards have been put up on the lakebed inviting inquiry related to purchase of land.

When contacted, one such ‘layout developer’ said the current prices of the land was Rs 4,000 per sq ft and residential the sites left with him were of 60 ft by 40 ft dimension.
What is more intriguing is that the BBMP too is among the lakebed encroachers, which according to the High Court directive is the nodal agency to protect all the lakes within its limits.

According to the Palike sources, approximately Rs one crore has been spent on the two structures on the lakebed.

Pointing to the illegalities, the BDA too had written to the Bangalore tahsildar asking him to demarcate the boundary so that the lake can be fenced and encroachment can be cleared. However, the tahsildar did not take any action.

Along with the lake, many permanent structures have come up on the Storm Water Drains (SWD) of the lake. When the BBMP officials in the storm water drain division went to measure and demarcate the boundary of the SWD, they were threatened by some local politicians with dire consequences, said sources. They added that they had to give up the work due to the threat.

When contacted, the Bangalore South tahsildar Jagadish said he was aware of the encroachment of lakes in Bangalore South, including Hulimavu lake, but he expressed inability to demarcate the boundary in the absence of surveyors.

Jagadish said: “All the surveyors are engaged in demarcating boundaries of the storm water drain. Only two surveyors are left with me. I cannot survey all the lakes with the help of two surveyors. I have asked my higher-ups for more surveyors.”