Rain delaying Ulsoor STP work?

Bengaluru: The setting up of a mini Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) for the heavily polluted Ulsoor lake has missed its August deadline as well with the civic work  still not complete. 

Officials have now shifted the deadline for opening of the STP to the first week of October. 

The plant was first scheduled to be commissioned in  April, but the deadline was later moved to August and now it has been shifted further by a few weeks.  

But whether this too will be met is unclear as it takes at least  45 days for the STP to become functional after the completion of the civic works.

Mr Sridhar Pabisetty, CEO of Namma Bengaluru Foundation which has been in the forefront of the movement  to reclaim the city’s lakes, blames the delay on the lack of urgency by the authorities to revive the Ulsoor lake.  

“It is unfortunate that in the 21st century we are letting untreated sewage into the lakes of the Silicon Valley of India,” he regretted. 

But ask  Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) chairman, Laxman, about the delay and he blames the monsoon for the failure to complete the STP on time. “The heavy rain has delayed the construction of the STP. However, 85 per cent of the work has been completed and the rest will be finished by the first week of October,” he assured. 

Also exuding confidence that things would fall into place, Ms Jayalakshmi BS, assistant executive engineer, BWSSB,  claimed it had always maintained that the  STP would be contructed by the end of September or in October  if the monsoon persisted. 

“And even then it may a take a little longer to become fully functional if we receive unexpected rain,” she conceded. Once completed, the STP will be maintained by Eurotek Pvt. Ltd for the next 10 years.