<p>Officials said on Friday they wouldn’t be able to divert the flow of untreated water into Bellandur lake within the one-month deadline set by the National Green Tribunal.<br /><br />Chief Secretary Subhash Chandra Khuntia visited the lake and took stock, directing all stakeholders to speed up their work. <br /><br />‘Can’t divert water’<br /><br />“We received the tribunal order earlier this week and read it in detail. We told the chief secretary we can’t divert the water so quickly,” a senior official told DH.<br /><br />The tribunal’s deadline to clean up the lake ends on May 18. The chief secretary said he would present the problem before the tribunal at the next hearing on May 18, according to the official. An 150 mld sewage treatment plant will be functional by July, while another will be ready only by 2020, the government will submit to the NGT.<br /><br />Clearing weeds is under way and will take three months as the lake is spread across 910 acres, officials said.<br />Desilting can be done only when the entry of untreated water is reduced. Otherwise, it will turn out costly, time-consuming and futile, officials told the chief secretary.<br /><br />‘Calls for 50,000 tankers’<br /><br />If the tribunal’s directions are to be implemented, the government will have to identify a place to store the 250 million litres of untreated sewage water flowing into the lake every day. <br /><br />It will also call for 50,000 tankers to carry the untreated water to the new location.<br />This is an expensive affair, and moreover, it means shifting Bellandur’s problem to a new location, an official said.<br /><br />Reality check on Tuesday<br /><br />The urban development department will hold a meeting of all stakeholders near Bellandur lake next on Tuesday at 10.30 am. “We will examine whether what the various departments have submitted to the chief secretary is true or not. We will understand the ground reality and report to him and the chief minister,” an official said.<br /></p>
<p>Officials said on Friday they wouldn’t be able to divert the flow of untreated water into Bellandur lake within the one-month deadline set by the National Green Tribunal.<br /><br />Chief Secretary Subhash Chandra Khuntia visited the lake and took stock, directing all stakeholders to speed up their work. <br /><br />‘Can’t divert water’<br /><br />“We received the tribunal order earlier this week and read it in detail. We told the chief secretary we can’t divert the water so quickly,” a senior official told DH.<br /><br />The tribunal’s deadline to clean up the lake ends on May 18. The chief secretary said he would present the problem before the tribunal at the next hearing on May 18, according to the official. An 150 mld sewage treatment plant will be functional by July, while another will be ready only by 2020, the government will submit to the NGT.<br /><br />Clearing weeds is under way and will take three months as the lake is spread across 910 acres, officials said.<br />Desilting can be done only when the entry of untreated water is reduced. Otherwise, it will turn out costly, time-consuming and futile, officials told the chief secretary.<br /><br />‘Calls for 50,000 tankers’<br /><br />If the tribunal’s directions are to be implemented, the government will have to identify a place to store the 250 million litres of untreated sewage water flowing into the lake every day. <br /><br />It will also call for 50,000 tankers to carry the untreated water to the new location.<br />This is an expensive affair, and moreover, it means shifting Bellandur’s problem to a new location, an official said.<br /><br />Reality check on Tuesday<br /><br />The urban development department will hold a meeting of all stakeholders near Bellandur lake next on Tuesday at 10.30 am. “We will examine whether what the various departments have submitted to the chief secretary is true or not. We will understand the ground reality and report to him and the chief minister,” an official said.<br /></p>