NGT seeks report on lake buffer zones in Bengaluru

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) wants to know what exactly the Karnataka government is doing to define and protect buffer zones around lakes and major drains in Bengaluru.

On Friday, it directed the government to submit a status report within three weeks.

A bench headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar, chairperson of the tribunal, said the report should include details of existing buildings and ongoing construction, if any, within the 75-metre lake buffer zones.

The bench passed the ruling while hearing a plea from Forward Foundation, a Bengaluru-based NGO. The foundation had sought information about the status of buffer-zone mapping in Bengaluru.

The bench told the government the report should list steps taken by its various agencies, including the Bangalore Development Authority and the Lake Development Authority, to implement the tribunal’s order on marking out no-construction buffers for each lake and major drain. Its next hearing is on July 17.

On May 5, 2016, the bench had ordered the widening of the buffer zone around Bengaluru lakes from 30 to 75 metres. It had also defined other buffers: 50 metres from the primary rajakaluve, 35 metres from the secondary rajakaluve and 25 metres from the tertiary rajakaluve. ‘Rajakaluve’ is Kannada for major drain.