<p>Residents around Lingarajapuram are a worried lot. Kacharakanahalli Lake, a precious water body nearby, has been turned into a sewage collection point, they lament.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Jayaprakash, a resident, says that the area stinks because of this. The water body is a source of many water-borne and vector-borne diseases, he rues.<br /><br />M Eshwarappa, another resident, claimed that there was a connivance between revenue officials and land sharks, leading to the lake’s pitiable condition. The lake was on the verge of death and timely action was needed to save it, he said.<br /><br />Worried about the pathetic state of the lake, a few residents had filed an RTI application, seeking information about the extent of the water body, its survey sketch and measures taken to improve it. But they were in for a rude shock with the data provided. <br /><br />While the government records show the extent of the water body as 51 acres and 25 guntas, a new survey sketch prepared by the Karnataka Land Records Department, a wing of the Revenue Department, reduces it to 20 per cent its actual size.<br /><br />Bangalore Development Authority officials, however, say they have no information about the new sketch prepared by the Land Records Department. <br /><br />People’s campaign<br /><br />According to Eshwarappa, besides three temples that have come up on the lake bed, two roads have been laid on it and asphalted. Further, people have constructed many houses on the lake bed. A playground and a park have also come up there.<br /><br />Local residents rued that the once beautiful lake had shrunk and turned into a quagmire due to illegal dumping of debris, buildings coming up on the encroached portion and apartments letting untreated sewage into it.<br /></p>
<p>Residents around Lingarajapuram are a worried lot. Kacharakanahalli Lake, a precious water body nearby, has been turned into a sewage collection point, they lament.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Jayaprakash, a resident, says that the area stinks because of this. The water body is a source of many water-borne and vector-borne diseases, he rues.<br /><br />M Eshwarappa, another resident, claimed that there was a connivance between revenue officials and land sharks, leading to the lake’s pitiable condition. The lake was on the verge of death and timely action was needed to save it, he said.<br /><br />Worried about the pathetic state of the lake, a few residents had filed an RTI application, seeking information about the extent of the water body, its survey sketch and measures taken to improve it. But they were in for a rude shock with the data provided. <br /><br />While the government records show the extent of the water body as 51 acres and 25 guntas, a new survey sketch prepared by the Karnataka Land Records Department, a wing of the Revenue Department, reduces it to 20 per cent its actual size.<br /><br />Bangalore Development Authority officials, however, say they have no information about the new sketch prepared by the Land Records Department. <br /><br />People’s campaign<br /><br />According to Eshwarappa, besides three temples that have come up on the lake bed, two roads have been laid on it and asphalted. Further, people have constructed many houses on the lake bed. A playground and a park have also come up there.<br /><br />Local residents rued that the once beautiful lake had shrunk and turned into a quagmire due to illegal dumping of debris, buildings coming up on the encroached portion and apartments letting untreated sewage into it.<br /></p>
