<p>Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Wednesday notified the controversial ‘The Karnataka Tank Conservation And Development Authority (Amendment) Act, 2025’ which sets the buffer zone of water bodies based on their size.</p>.<p>Though the amendment was passed by the legislature in August, 2025, the Governor had sent back the Bill seeking clarity on its ‘adverse effect’. Following this, Minor Irrigation Minister N S Boseraju had said the Bill would not harm any lakes and a revised version would be submitted. He had argued that the standard 30 metres buffer zone for all lakes had left large areas around smaller lakes useless.</p>.<p>It is learnt that the Governor gave consent to the Bill on Monday.</p>.<p>Earlier, all the lakes in the city had a standard buffer zone of 30 metres. Now, with the act notified, the buffer zone of only lakes bigger than 100 acres will remain 30 metres.</p>.Karnataka government notifies act to change buffer zone of lakes based on area.<p>While the lakes up to 0.05 acres will have no buffer zone, those between 0.05 to 0.1 acres will have a buffer zone of one metre.</p>.<p>Lakes measuring between 0.1-1 acre will have only three metres of buffer zone. The buffer zone will be six metres for lakes sized 1-10 acres, 12 metres for lakes sized 10-25 acres, and 24 metres for lakes sized 25-100 acres.</p>.<p>The amendment is expected to help the government construct roads, bridges, water supply lines, sewage treatment plants and other infrastructure. The act now notes that the permission to these activities can be awarded “after ensuring that the original capacity of the tanks is not reduced or cause any obstruction at the natural or normal course of inflow or outflow of water into, or from, the tanks on the upstream and or downstream even after such works”. </p>.<p>The amendment was opposed by citizen groups,<br />environmentalists and experts citing that reduction of buffer zones will harm the lakes and create ecological imbalance.</p>.<p>“The reduction in buffer zones will do more harm than good to the lakes. When you see reduction, what follows is nothing but destruction,” said Ramya V S, a citizen of Hebbal. </p>.<p>Experts pointed out that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had registered a suo motu case in this regard and the state government’s move is disappointing.</p>.<p>“This is very unfortunate. The case is yet to be heard and the state government’s move at this point of time is disappointing,” said V Ramaprasad, convenor of Federation of Bengaluru Lakes (FBL), representing 47 citizen groups.</p>.<p>The federation will challenge the government’s move at an appropriate level, he added.</p>
<p>Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Wednesday notified the controversial ‘The Karnataka Tank Conservation And Development Authority (Amendment) Act, 2025’ which sets the buffer zone of water bodies based on their size.</p>.<p>Though the amendment was passed by the legislature in August, 2025, the Governor had sent back the Bill seeking clarity on its ‘adverse effect’. Following this, Minor Irrigation Minister N S Boseraju had said the Bill would not harm any lakes and a revised version would be submitted. He had argued that the standard 30 metres buffer zone for all lakes had left large areas around smaller lakes useless.</p>.<p>It is learnt that the Governor gave consent to the Bill on Monday.</p>.<p>Earlier, all the lakes in the city had a standard buffer zone of 30 metres. Now, with the act notified, the buffer zone of only lakes bigger than 100 acres will remain 30 metres.</p>.Karnataka government notifies act to change buffer zone of lakes based on area.<p>While the lakes up to 0.05 acres will have no buffer zone, those between 0.05 to 0.1 acres will have a buffer zone of one metre.</p>.<p>Lakes measuring between 0.1-1 acre will have only three metres of buffer zone. The buffer zone will be six metres for lakes sized 1-10 acres, 12 metres for lakes sized 10-25 acres, and 24 metres for lakes sized 25-100 acres.</p>.<p>The amendment is expected to help the government construct roads, bridges, water supply lines, sewage treatment plants and other infrastructure. The act now notes that the permission to these activities can be awarded “after ensuring that the original capacity of the tanks is not reduced or cause any obstruction at the natural or normal course of inflow or outflow of water into, or from, the tanks on the upstream and or downstream even after such works”. </p>.<p>The amendment was opposed by citizen groups,<br />environmentalists and experts citing that reduction of buffer zones will harm the lakes and create ecological imbalance.</p>.<p>“The reduction in buffer zones will do more harm than good to the lakes. When you see reduction, what follows is nothing but destruction,” said Ramya V S, a citizen of Hebbal. </p>.<p>Experts pointed out that the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had registered a suo motu case in this regard and the state government’s move is disappointing.</p>.<p>“This is very unfortunate. The case is yet to be heard and the state government’s move at this point of time is disappointing,” said V Ramaprasad, convenor of Federation of Bengaluru Lakes (FBL), representing 47 citizen groups.</p>.<p>The federation will challenge the government’s move at an appropriate level, he added.</p>
