Overflowing lakes, a mixed blessing

Overflowing lakes, a mixed blessing
Vijay Times

THE City s lakes, which had almost died following the drought of the last few years, have in the recent incessant rains regained their lost glory. Though the overflowing lakes are a treat to the eyes, the flip side is that a number of them have become a source of rain-related woes like battered roads, inundated low- lying areas, water gushing into houses nearby and outbreak of epidemics.

The latest lake to overflow was Nagavara, on Saturday submerging roads in the area . It all began with Puttenahalli lake, which flowed and submerged the cars parked in nearby apartments. In that instance, people were so upset with the functioning of the civic authorities that they did not let Chief Minister N Dharam Singh to get down from his inspection van during his visit to the rain-hit area. Later , it was Begur lake and subsequently Sankey lake and H ebbal lake which overflowed, making life miserable for the public as well as road users. Even a office on Hosur Road was marooned, forcing people to stage a traffic-blocking dharna.

With every downpour people residing around Puttenahalli, Kottanur , Chunchaghatta and Nagavara have been through tough times.

According to Lake Development Authority (LDA) CEO B K Singh, there are at least 200 lakes in and around the City and most of them are overflowing following incessant rains. While some of the lakes are adopted by developers and resident welfare associations, it is looking for more lake adopters .

According to LDA officials, a number of measures have been taken to prevent the overflowing of lakes by roping in private partners to save lakes, appointing guards to keep a tab on illegal like mining, encroachments et al. However , they have all failed miseraby with other civic agencies too have been ineffective. The authorities have been constantly monitoring situation and have served notices and initiated action against those found encroaching upon indulging in illegal sand mining.

Singh said that there has been rampant encroachmen of channels or raja kaluves (raja canals) leading to the overflow of water . Even certain CMC officials have regularised these encroachments instead of razing them, he added. Though so CMCs have been served with notices for regularizing encroachments, no action has been initiated agains encroachers, he added.

One civic body cannot go on blaming another organisation for the same mistake repeatedly .