BDA, BBMP, Iskcon, all lake encroachers!

Bengaluru: City lakes are shrinking. And to blame are an  IT park, temples, apartments, a petrol station, factories, and even an anganwadi!  Shockingly, the encroachers include the BBMP, BDA, the forest department, and even Iskcon.

The House committee  on lake encroachments constituted by the state assembly Speaker, and led by Congress MLA, KB Koliwad,  was presented with these dismaying facts during its visit to five lakes on Friday accompanied by over 200 surveyors.

Even before it could visit the highly polluted Bellandur lake, the committee received an anonymous  tip  that the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board had given away land meant for a BWSSB Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) near it, to a private IT park some years ago.

On verifying the complaint, the committee found the BWSSB was supposed to build an STP near the lake in 2004 as part of the plan to rejuvenate it, but the  KIADB had  allocated the land to private companies as alleged.

Mr Koliwad lost no time in directing the additional chief secretary (urban development),  Mahendra Jain to submit a report to the committee on the  issue and demanded to know how the KIADB could have done something like this. He was, however, met with silence.

Sankey tank: On visiting  Sankey tank located near 18th cross, Malleswaram, the committee found that it had lost five acres to a statue of Shivaji installed by the BBMP and a jogging park built by the forest department.

The  BBMP is also guilty of building a swimming pool on 1.4 acres of lake land. To make matters worse,  now a private firm is fighting to establish ownership of another 1.04 acres in court.

Kacharakanahalli lake:  To the dismay of the committee, it found that while five acres of the lake bed was occupied by an ISKCON  temple and auditorium, the BDA had encroached on another 15 acres to provide civic amenities to people in the area. An anganwadi,  a soap factory and even a fuel station were found occupying part of the lake bed as well. Members were informed by the revenue officials present that 31 encroachers had been issued notices and 21 had replied to them, but Iskcon was still to respond.

Singanayakahalli and Avahalli lake: A school on part of the lake area spread over 13.11 acres would  be removed soon, revenue officials assured the committee.

Amanikere: Here, the committee learnt  that of the 121.36 acres of lake area, 33.14 acres have been taken over by farming.