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British firm offers to revive Bellandur lake in 6 months

Last Updated 24 March 2017, 20:38 IST

A British firm has offerred to revive Bellandur lake within six months. At a meeting chaired by Large and Medium Scale Industries Minister R V Desphande on Friday, the delegates of Bluewater Bio made a presentation, saying that they could revive Bellandur lake within six months.

Though the exact cost of the project was not discussed, the team from London, headed by Dominic McAllister, Deputy High Commissioner, British Deputy High Commission, said that it was keen to fund 85% of the project cost and the balance would have to be met by the state government. The government will have to repay monetary assistance six months after the completion of the project, with an interest at the rate of 2.36%.

Deshpande said that the proposal would have to be routed through the Union government since it was funded by the British government. Also, global tenders would have to be called for as the state government follows the Karnataka Transparency in Public Procurement Act.

C M Dhananjaya, chairman of the Karnataka State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (KSIIDC) said the proposal made by BlueWater Bio would placed before the lake expert committee and the state government.  He said that the KSIIDC has written to the chief minister with a request to appoint the corporation as the nodal agency for the Bellandur lake revival project.

‘Biological treatment best for lake’
With stench from Bellandur lake unbearable, the visit to the lake by delegates from the UK and Israel arranged by Karnataka State Small Industries Development Corporation Ltd (KSSIDC) lasted a mere five minutes.

Jeremy Biddle, Engineering Director of Bluewater Bio, a global specialist firm offering technologies for cost-effective water and waste water treatment told reporters: “Biological wastewater treatment is the best method to combat the issue at Bellandur lake. It is a standard and straightforward process that has been there for 100 years. We offer advanced technology in biological wastewater treatment. How soon we start this project depends on the response from government here.”

KSSIDC chairman C M Dhananjaya said they were approached by the delegates from the UK to find out possible solutions to the foaming.

Meanwhile, K Jagannath, former president of Bellandur gram panchayat said this was not the first visit by international experts.

“The so-called 'experts' have been visiting the lake for more than 10 years. But no action has been taken to prevent foaming.” Another resident who did not wish to be named said that in 2015, government representatives met experts from Hungary to find solutions to the problem but so far no action has been taken. 

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(Published 24 March 2017, 20:38 IST)

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