Bengaluru: De-weeding not a solution for Bellandur, say activists

Bengaluru: One of the important suggestions made by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to clean up Bellandur Lake was desilting. But it seems impossible as it may require 10 lakh trucks with a carrying capacity of 25 tonnes to clean up the big lake.

Mr Nagesh Aras, a lake activist and a resident near the lake, said, “Even if 100 trucks are deployed every day to clean the lake, they will cause huge traffic jams on Ring Road. But the authorities are not considering the traffic factor at all.”

Mr Aras added: "The experts committee report calls for regular harvesting, which should be done 2-4 times a year for best results. It also called for ‘desilting’ of the lakes. Instead, BDA does neither: they do de-weeding, which means complete removal of the macrophytes which leaves the sewage water untreated." 

In May 2017, the government announced that it does not have the manpower to desilt the lake, while the BDA cited lack of funds to take up the cleaning work.
Last week, Bellandur Lake wardens were empowered to levy fines and issue challans against the violator responsible for dumping garbage and polluting the lake. But the activists call it tokenism and question the efforts of the BDA in protecting the lake.

“It is too early to say if such marshals can be deputed at other lakes as well. Those near Bellandur Lake have not been effective, and have caught only a few violators,” Mr Aras pointed out.

On using CCTV cameras to prevent dumping, he said that some strategic areas around the lake have not been covered by the cameras. “The footage is hardly monitored, and most importantly, Solid Waste Management (SWM) system is not in place. Lake marshals have not been effective,” he said.

In February, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagare Palike (BBMP) was accused of dumping construction debris at Varthur lakebed. There have been instances of BBMP’s waste management contractors dumping garbage near Bellandur Lake.