BDA estimate to revive lakes unreasonable, says MLA

In a bid to revive the frothing and stinking Bellandur, Varthur and Rampura lakes, local MLA Aravind Limbavali has turned to the Centre for help. He has written to Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri to take it up under a special project or as a project of the UDD with grants.

He claimed that the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) had misled the Urban Development Department (UDD) in 2016 by presenting an unreasonable estimate for the project. “The BDA had submitted a detailed project report to the UDD claiming approximately Rs 519 crore for the rejuvenation of Bellandur lake alone which is unreasonable. For the three lakes, it claimed more than Rs 1,000 crore. But the UDD returned the file to BDA asking it to quote the right estimate,” said Limbavali.

“Scientists of Indian Institute of Science (IISc) had already made the cost analysis for the rejuvenation of the lakes. The BDA needs to this with discuss with them and come up with the right estimate.”

Responding to the letter, Puri, who had already visited the lakes in April and assured support in rejuvenating them, said he will inspect the lakes again. Limbavali said Bellandur Lake is completely contaminated by sewage and industrial effluents. “Though the NGT and High Court of Karnataka urged the state government to rejuvenate the lake, there is no change in the situation,” he said.