<p>Bengaluru: For the first time, the BBMP will acquire 120 vacant tracts of land within the buffer zone of a major stormwater drain between Yelahanka and Jakkur lakes to lay a road and widen the drain. </p>.<p>It wants to build a new road, which cuts across Ballari Road and spans 2.62 km. Given the history of flooding in the region, the civic body has also planned to widen the stormwater drain between both water bodies. </p>.<p>These 120 private properties — measuring 56,838 square metres — will be acquired by issuing transferable development rights (TDR), which can be used by the certificate holder for constructing additional built-up areas. </p>.Connectivity woes delay Bengaluru Safe City Project rollout.<p>Officials said the existing stormwater drain was not wide enough to carry water from Yelahanka Lake to Jakkur Lake. “We are not just building a stormwater drain of uniform width but will widen it to 10 metres, which is three to five times more than the existing width,” he said. “The civic body will also build a four-lane road on both sides of the stormwater drain, which will join Jakkur road.” </p>.<p>Another official said laying roads was not the main aim of acquiring land and it would just be a ‘kuccha (mud) road’. </p>.<p>However, building roads in the drain’s buffer zone may invite environmentalists’ wrath. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has declared 50 metres from the centre of a primary drain as a no-development zone while it is 25 metres in the case of secondary drains and 15 metres for tertiary drains. </p>.<p>Officials said laying roads would prevent illegal buildings from coming up in the buffer zone and end the dumping of garbage into the drains. “This is an attempt to widen the stormwater drain by acquiring private properties. It is a first-of-its-kind exercise. The area has a long history of flooding,” B S Prahlad, engineer-in-chief of the BBMP, told DH. </p>.<p>Building of the road, he said, is part of a larger plan to decongest Hebbal junction by providing alternative connectivity up to Rachenahalli or Nagawara. </p>.<p>Sandeen Anirudhan, the co-founder of Citizens’ Agenda for Bengaluru, said building the road in the buffer zone of the stormwater drain would destroy the natural filtering of water before it joins the lake. “The wetland rules have been drafted with a particular purpose. When 80% of Bengaluru is concretised, why is the BBMP hellbent on destroying the last remaining ecologically sensitive areas,” he asked. </p>
<p>Bengaluru: For the first time, the BBMP will acquire 120 vacant tracts of land within the buffer zone of a major stormwater drain between Yelahanka and Jakkur lakes to lay a road and widen the drain. </p>.<p>It wants to build a new road, which cuts across Ballari Road and spans 2.62 km. Given the history of flooding in the region, the civic body has also planned to widen the stormwater drain between both water bodies. </p>.<p>These 120 private properties — measuring 56,838 square metres — will be acquired by issuing transferable development rights (TDR), which can be used by the certificate holder for constructing additional built-up areas. </p>.Connectivity woes delay Bengaluru Safe City Project rollout.<p>Officials said the existing stormwater drain was not wide enough to carry water from Yelahanka Lake to Jakkur Lake. “We are not just building a stormwater drain of uniform width but will widen it to 10 metres, which is three to five times more than the existing width,” he said. “The civic body will also build a four-lane road on both sides of the stormwater drain, which will join Jakkur road.” </p>.<p>Another official said laying roads was not the main aim of acquiring land and it would just be a ‘kuccha (mud) road’. </p>.<p>However, building roads in the drain’s buffer zone may invite environmentalists’ wrath. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has declared 50 metres from the centre of a primary drain as a no-development zone while it is 25 metres in the case of secondary drains and 15 metres for tertiary drains. </p>.<p>Officials said laying roads would prevent illegal buildings from coming up in the buffer zone and end the dumping of garbage into the drains. “This is an attempt to widen the stormwater drain by acquiring private properties. It is a first-of-its-kind exercise. The area has a long history of flooding,” B S Prahlad, engineer-in-chief of the BBMP, told DH. </p>.<p>Building of the road, he said, is part of a larger plan to decongest Hebbal junction by providing alternative connectivity up to Rachenahalli or Nagawara. </p>.<p>Sandeen Anirudhan, the co-founder of Citizens’ Agenda for Bengaluru, said building the road in the buffer zone of the stormwater drain would destroy the natural filtering of water before it joins the lake. “The wetland rules have been drafted with a particular purpose. When 80% of Bengaluru is concretised, why is the BBMP hellbent on destroying the last remaining ecologically sensitive areas,” he asked. </p>