Govt will not denotify lakes, says Siddaramaiah

Facing stiff opposition from many quarters, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said his government will not denotify any lakes.

“Thanks for the letter @DVSBJP. This is a huge misconception. No lake is going to be denotified. We are in fact reviving & filling them (sic),” the Chief Minister tweeted in reply to Union Minister and former Karnataka chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda’s letter urging him to drop any proposal to disown dried and defunct lakes.

The Revenue department has proposed to the government to give up control and ownership of parts of lakes that have dried up and lost their original features.

The department had identified about 1,500 such lakes. The aim was to regularise illegal structures built on these one-time lakes.

Opposition parties, the BJP and the JD(S), and a number of non-governmental organisations have vehemently opposed the proposal and threatened to launch protests if the government did not drop the plan.