BDA, Palike face HC wrath over Bellandur Lake rejuvenation

The Karnataka High Court on Monday expressed displeasure over the way the BBMP and BDA were handling the rejuvenation work of Bellandur Lake. The court observed that the authorities were shirking their responsibility.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice S K Mukherjee and Justice R B Budihal, while hearing a PIL on the pollution of Bellandur Lake, said: “We are not happy.”

The bench passed an order appointing the principal secretary, Department of Urban Development (UDD), and the principal secretary, Department of Ecology and Environment, as special officers to look into the status of the lake and take all remedial measures to restore and rejuvenate the waterbody in four weeks.

D Kupendra Reddy, Rajya Sabha member and resident of HSR Layout, had filed a PIL seeking directions to government agencies to stop the increasing pollution levels in Bellandur Lake, which is frothing.

Government counsel V Sreenidhi filed an affidavit in the court mentioning the status report of the rejuvenation work of the lake. The affidavit had mentioned the gist of the remedial measures recommended by the expert committee headed by the additional chief secretary, UDD.

Among the long-term measures, the committee had recommended that BWSSB set up a sewage treatment plant; recommended to the UDD to cancel land allotment made by KIADB between Agara and Bellandur lakes and to legally pursue the STP on the 40 acres of land in the region, which the BWSSB was unable to set up; to set up a Citizen Lake Monitoring Committee, strengthening of the legal cell; to set up a full-fledged online lake water quality monitoring system; research project to estimate inflow and outflow of water and to study water quality. The bench adjourned the next hearing after four weeks.