Too many authorities, not enough management

Lakes in the city are handled by a plethora of civic bodies – BBMP, BDA and BWSSB. With poor coordination between these agencies, the water bodies receive step motherly treatment, which results in large scale pollution, a chronic issue, or outright disaster, as was the case with Hulimavu. The Hulimavu mishap has only exposed the lack of coordination between the agencies, for BWSSB failed to stay in touch or follow due process as it conducted work on a Sewage Treatment Plant in the southern part of the lake, which is maintained by the BBMP. Urban experts, who have long since urged for a single authority to be put in place, have been proved right.

Harish Bijoor, Brand Guru and vocal civic activist, says that a single authority must be vested with authority to maintain the city’s fast-vanishing lakes and that there should be joint ownership between this agency and the people who actually live around them. “Our lakes are precious resources, which are being threatened to the point of extinction. We need to start worshipping our lakes as the Gods of our future. We have older maps that show the size and number of lakes in Bengaluru. More updated versions show that many large buildings, stadiums, government complexes, private housing and more have come up on these old lake beds. Nothing much can be done in those cases but we need to protect what remains before it is too late,” Bijoor suggests. “The recent breach is a reminder that we have done a lot wrong. Let’s correct that.”

Sandeep Anirudhan, founder, Coalition for Water Security, bats for an integrated water board. The priority of the board should be to protect, regulate, restore and revive ‘local water security’, instead of the current approach of importing water from rivers that are far away, Anirudhan says. BWSSB should be replaced by this water board, he says and “all water sources, groundwater, lakes and rivers entrusted to this integrated agency. Lakes should not be be looked at in isolation, this is what is killing them.”

A top BBMP official agreed that the civic authority has too much on its hands already and that a single, integrated authority for water resources could be a good solution.

Hulimavu lake breach: Police investigation on

No arrests have been made so far in connection with the major Hulimavu lake breach, which has affected the lives of thousands of people living in the area.
DCP South East, Isha Panth, says that  no arrests have been made in the case so far and that interrogations are still on.

It is being said that security guards of the lake and residents of one apartment building situated close to the lake are also being questioned, as the residents had allegedly pressurised the workers to breach the lake.

No progress has been made, however, with the complaint lodged against BWSSB officer Karthik and others. It was also alleged that a prominent BJP leader had pressurised the BWSSB officer overseeing work on the STP in the southern part of the lake to breach it as the water was entering a nearby temple.