KSPCB chief blames BDA, BWSSB for fish kill

Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) Chairperson Vaman Acharya blamed Bangalore Water Supply & Sewerage Board (BWSSB) and Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) for the damage to the Gowdanapalya Lake bund resulting in fish kill at Dorekere Lake.

Expressing anguish over large scale death of fish in Dorekere after the highly contaminated water from Gowdanapalya Lake flowed and mixed in Dorekere, Acharya said BDA should have evicted encroachment from the Gowdanapalya Lake and its connecting natural canals (Raja Kaluve) to prevent fish kill.

He was also critical about BBMP for not having any aerating facility and filling the lake with fresh water in the event of such fish kill.

Holding BWSSB responsible, Acharya said, “BWSSB is primarily responsible for the incident. Our board had asked them to set up sewage treatment plant at each of the lakes.

BWSSB is not keen on such small projects. They want to lay hand on big projects. Had they set up such units there, this incident could have been avoided, Acharya said.

He has instructed his officials to visit the place, collect water sample and give a detailed report and would write to BDA and Deputy Commissioner of Bangalore Urban to evict encroachment.

Third such incident

Meanwhile, residents living around Gowdanapalya Lake complained that this was the third incident of damage to the tank bund.

“Earlier in the year two times the tank bund was damaged but nobody bothered to take it seriously. Whenever we objected, the land grabbers threatened us with dire consequences,” said a local resident.

Mayor’s visit

A week after damage to the Gowdanapalya tank bund and the resultant fish kill at Dorekere, Mayor B S Sathyanarayana will visit Dorekere on Sunday morning to take the stock of the situation.