A case of the fence eating the crop

The BBMP has itself encroached upon the Gangashetty lakebed in K R Puram

It’s a case of the fence eating the crop -- the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, which is tasked with protecting the city’s lakes, has itself encroached upon the Gangashetty lakebed in K R Puram to build an 8,000-sft ‘Samudaya Bhavan’. While the BBMP officials went ahead with the construction unmindful of the protests by local activists, a report by revenue officers now clearly shows that the building indeed falls within the lake area and buffer zone and is therefore not just a violation of rules governing lakebeds but also in contempt of a Supreme Court order that prohibits any construction within a lake area. As with everything concerning the civic body, here, too, the left hand seems to be unaware of what the right is doing. Or so we are expected to believe. BBMP Chief Engineer (Lakes) Mohan Krishna has acknowledged that constructions are not permitted within the lake area as per the SC order. Yet, the Palike officers in Mahadevapura went ahead with the construction. It is worrying that Mahadevapura MLA Arvind Limbavalli also seems to have done nothing to stop the encroachment despite complaints by activists. The BBMP has done nothing so far to hold to account the officers responsible.

But encroachment of lakes is neither new nor by the BBMP alone. Bengaluru once had hundreds of pristine lakes. Now, there are only about 210, of which only 21 lakes are said to be free of any encroachments. Nineteen lakes have ‘died’ in recent years and 161 are partially encroached upon. Of these, 20 have been encroached upon by government bodies themselves. For the record, though, the BBMP has launched a project to remove encroachments and is undertaking a ‘comprehensive development’ of all lakes. The civic body has an acute shortage of surveyors to clearly demarcate lake borders, which conveniently allows encroachers to take advantage. In the case of the Gangashetty lake, it is also possible that local BBMP officers have gone ahead with the construction even without the required approvals and sanctions from the Palike’s higher officers. In another instance, a BBMP office has come up in the middle of a burial ground in Chamarajpet, and the corporation’s top official in the zone is reported to have said that he is “totally unaware” how it happened.

The BBMP is charged with protecting the city’s public places and civic assets like lakes, parks and playgrounds. Its top officers cannot claim ignorance of violations and encroachments on these spaces, whether by private entities or, especially, by its own officers. Those responsible for the encroachment of Gangashetty Lake must be held accountable and the construction removed.