Medical college to come up on lake land in parched Chikkaballapur

Amid calls to save lakes in the state, the Chikkaballapur district administration is doing something to the contrary.

The district administration has allowed conversion of about 92 acres of land belonging to Gopalakrishna Lake for various purposes, including construction of a medical college.

The process began in 2010 when the administration transferred 70 acres of the lake land in Anakannur village Kasaba hobli, in exchange for 10 acres of land with the Horticulture Department. Again, in February 2016, the district administration granted the lake land as ‘the most suitable land' for setting up a medical college.

The documents showed that through a government order dated February 15, 2010, the Revenue Department, which is incidentally the custodian of the lake, proceeded to transfer around 70 acres of the lake area in survey number 109 in exchange for 10.21 acres of land to the Horticulture Department. The 10.21 acres of land belonging to the Horticulture Department in survey number 158 was used for building the district administration office. Parting with the lake lands did not stop there. On February 25, 2016, the Revenue Department allotted 22 acres of lake land in the very survey number (109) to the Department of Medical Education on the pretext that it was a government kharab land.

Janaadhikaara Sangharsha Parishath (JSP), an NGO, has filed a complaint with the Upalokayukta against the Chikkaballapur district administration. “We have stated in the complaint that it was an illegal change of land use by the revenue department officials concerned. The change now also reflects in the khata with the lake land converted to kharab land. The extracts of khata reflect that the district administration has converted the entire 170 acres of land into kharab land. This act not only amounts to maladministration, but is also in contravention of the laws of the land. The authorities have also ignored several directions by the High Court,” Narayan B S, executive member of JSP told DH.

Biggest lake in district
Amani Gopalakrishna lake is the biggest lake in Chikkaballapur, with an extent of 287.85 hectares (711 acres). The lake is spread across five survey numbers in six villages of the district which is reeling under severe water crisis. The lake area in question is at survey number 109 with an extent of 170.5 acres. The lake comes under Chikkaballapur city limits and adjacent to National Highway 7. The Revenue Department is the custodian of the lake while the Irrigation Department looks after its maintenance.