Kaggadasapura lake, residents take the plunge'

Bengaluru: After being fed up with by government apathy, some residents of Kaggadasapura have now decided to clean up the dying Kaggadasapura lake themselves.

The residents, equipped with safety harnesses like gloves, gum boots and raft, swung into action to clean the lake and its surroundings.

When repeated pleas to revive the lake fell on deaf ears, a few residents, led by a techie Swarit Agarwal, took the initiative to spend money from their pocket and built a raft to clean up the lake. The aim is to attract the attention of the government and civic agencies to rejuvenate this water body.

A few vested interests attempted to thwart their initiative by damaging the raft on Friday night. However, the residents were undeterred and cleaned up a portion of the lake. The permission to clean the lake was obtained from the lake development authority.

“I know one thing in my life. Mere protest will not help. Self engagement in cleaning up the lakes will encourage people change the mindset of others. It is painful to see only the walking path of the lakes are developed and not the actual lakes, which need immediate action,” Agarwal said.

The local MLA and corporator have ignored the lake. They did not visit the lake even when the United Bengaluru members invited them for lake inspection, he alleged.

The walk path with five feet width was increased to 30 feet by shrinking the lake. Although, the BBMP had prepared Detailed Project Report (DPR) for rejuvenation of the lake the sewerage flow into the water body was not plugged. Already, the lake which spreads 50 acres has been shrunk to 32 owing to encroachments, the residents said.

Have alternate plan: MLA 
C V Raman Nagar MLA S. Raghu told Deccan Chronicle that he does not want to be part of some activists, which are led by other political party, and said he has plans to revive the lake by diverting the sewerage from entering into it.

The lake was surveyed and fenced after clearing the encroachments. Encroachment of the storm water drains have to be cleared and two Sewerage Treatment Plants (STP) each with 50,000 MLD capacity would be installed. Increased walk path benefits pedestrians and plants can be grown on either sides of the path, he explained. 

“Even if these 20 residents clean up the lake for 100 years hardly any progress can be seen. Machineries should be employed to desilt and deweed it. Plans are afoot to revive the lake,” Raghu added.