Encroachers may gobble up Allalasandra lake, residents fear

Residents of Yelahanka New Town fear that the 44-acre Allalasandra lake might soon vanish if the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) does not clear encroachments on the lake bed.

Residents allege that in the last few years alone, as many as 60 buildings have come up on the lake bed. They claim that despite submitting memorandums and complaints to the BBMP, no action had been taken to restore the lake.

Honnashettappa H R, a resident, alleged that encroachments on the lake bed had become rampant over the last decade. “Apart from slums, apartments are mushrooming on the lake bed. Sanitary pipelines of houses in the area are directly connected to the stormwater drain near the water body. As a result sewage water flows into the lake,” he said.

Meanwhile, members of the Yelahanka United Environment Association have written to Bangalore Urban Deputy Commissioner V Shankar and Bangalore Metropolitan Task Force.

“Based on our letters, the Revenue department and BBMP jointly surveyed the lake area in the second week of September and mapped the area. In the map, they have marked the boundary of the lake area, ” joint secretary of the association Jagadeesh Giri said. The map reveals that 4.1 acre of the lake bed had been encroached upon and members maintain that the value of the encroached property on the lake periphery is over Rs 25 crore.

Balappa, Yelahanka tahsildar of the Revenue department, said that notices had been issued to a few houses in the area and that encroachments would be cleared within a month. House owners have appealed for alternate land or compensation, he added.
The Bangalore Urban Deputy Commissioner V Shankar said that the Karnataka Slum Clearance Board would be roped in to allot alternative land to house owners who have been issued notices.