Bengaluru: The 37-acre Konasandra Lake at Banashankari Stage VI, once a haunt for many birds, is now bearing the brunt of civic apathy and even risks extinction.
The lake has no fencing and sewage directly enters into it. The local residents, under condition of anonymity, said that during night the pungent smell emanating from the lake engulfs the surrounding area.
BDA had in 2010 taken up the restoration work, but later it had handed it over to BBMP.
Local residents allege that industrial discharge was getting into the lake, leading to bad odour in the area.
The BBMP officials claim they are cash strapped and waiting for the budget session to take up lake restoration.
“We need funds and I can comment on the restoration of the lake after the budget session. The situation of the lake is known to us and it definitely needs to be restored,” said Jagannath Rao, DCF, BBMP (lakes).
In February, the Palike had called the tender for the restoration of 20 lakes in the city, out of which, Somasundarapalaya shares the same plight as Konnasandra lake.
According to BBMP, out of 167 lakes under Palike’s custody, 65 have been developed. The palike has cleared more than 450 storm water drain (SWD) encroachments and there are more than 1,000 encroachments still to be cleared.
The environmentalists have raised an alarm over the dumping of raw sewage in the lakes across the city at night.
