In the next three months, many bungalows and commercial establishments—lavish and big but constructed illegally on lakebeds—could come down like a pack of cards.
As the Lokayukta has cracked the whip against the encroachments on City’s lakes, the Bangalore Urban district authorities have prepared an action plan to rid the water bodies of illegal occupants. The process of preparing the action plan started about one-and-a-half months ago but gained momentum only recently after the Lokayukta expressed his displeasure over the extremely slow pace of work.
After taking over as deputy commissioner of Bangalore Urban district last month, V Shankar prioritised the survey of all lakes. On his instruction, action plans with scheduled dates of eviction were prepared by all five tahsildars of Bangalore Urban district in the first week of this month. Sources in the Bangalore Urban district office said that in the next three months, a number of illegal structures on lakebeds could face demolition.
A senior Palike official said that pressure was mounting on revenue officials from various quarters, from the general public to the court, Lokayukta to the media and other law enforcement agencies, to crack down on encroachments of government land.
The action plans prepared by tahsildars of Bangalore South, North, North (additional), East and Anekal show that there are 865 lakes in Bangalore; 306 lakes are in Bangalore South alone.
The total extent of 306 lakes in Bangalore South is 4,449 acres and 22 guntas. But most of them have been encroached upon.
Although the situation warranted quick action, the Bangalore South taluk officials could survey only 31 lakes, which are full of encroachments.
According to sources, most of the lakes have disappeared just like Chikkalasandra lake or Venkatarayana Kere in Bangalore South taluk. It has come to light that politicians obstructed the anti-eviction drive.
In a recent report to the Lokayukta, Shankar submitted a list of lakes from where illegal occupants were evicted.
