Lake tourism threatens boom in India's tech hub

Lake tourism threatens boom in India's tech hub

Agence France-Presse

BANGALORE, India (AFP) - At one of the lakes that dot the high-tech Indian city of Bangalore, speed and pedal boats ply the water while on the banks food stalls serve people who have paid a 30 rupee (62 cents) entrance fee.
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The happy scene, however, is not proving popular with environmentalists who say development and tourism around Bangalore's lakes alters the topography and destroys water sources that are crucial for continued growth of the burgeoning city.

Two million people have moved to Bangalore in the past five years as tech companies rush to take advantage of its easy lifestyle and highly educated workers. But no one planned for such fast growth and a major casualty has been more than 160 small lakes out of 200 a decade ago that fed gardens and parks.

"The days are not far when there will an acute drinking water crisis. We can deceive ourselves but this is the truth," says Leo Saldanha, an environmental activist who heads the Environment Support Group.

"Boating and food stalls may cater to a silly middle-class sentiment. But it will sound the death knell for the lakes. These stalls are built on concrete bases which alter the topography of the lake and destroys its water sources," he says.

Bangalore, located 920 meters (3,018 feet) above sea level, got its start as a tech centre after the government located its main space and defence research facilities there in the 1970s at a time the city was dotted with orchid plantations.

But as the lakes dry up, business are questioning the city's ability to attract more companies from abroad such as Microsoft, Siemens and Intel who are among the 1,500 domestic and foreign technology firms already at the heart of India's outsourcing boom.

Revenues from software and services companies in India grew 31.4 percent to 29.6 billion dollars in the year to March and are forecast to bring in 60 billion dollars by 2010. The industry now provides 4.3 million jobs, desperately needed in the nation of 1.1 billion people where one third live on less than a dollar a day.

Several companies have already shunned Bangalore which is now beset by massive daily traffic jams, air and noise pollution and a fight for affordable housing in the inland city of seven million.

"The loss of lakes are a big concern," says Mukul Agrawal country manager of Unisys India, a global technology services firm. "The environment in Bangalore is taking a battering and so is the quality of life."

"We are looking to expand beyond this city. It is becoming more and more difficult to work in Bangalore because of the traffic, bad roads and pollution."

B.K. Singh, head of Bangalore's Lake Development Authority, says that of the 200 lakes or "water tanks" which preserve rain water, about 40 have survived the rapid growth in the city.

But spent fuel, concrete platforms and waste from the crowds on the lakes are not the only problem.

"A major culprit is encroachment of land by private builders and dumping of construction waste," Singh tells AFP. "These waterbodies are one of the main sources of drinking water. All the pollutants, both industrial and human, find their way to the lakes and contaminate the ground water."

Because of a lack of funds, Singh has asked companies in the city to "adopt" the remaining lakes in an effort to save them by charging a one-time fee of 300,000 rupees (6,666 dollars) to 500,000 rupees for a period of five years.

"The Lake Development Authority is the watchdog with a staff of about eight personnel. This is the best way out," Singh says.

According to global property consultants Cushman and Wakefield, about one million square feet of commercial office space was rented in the first quarter of 2006 in Bangalore with the technology and outsourcing sector accounting for 60 percent of the demand.

T.V. Ramachandra, a professor at the independent Centre for Ecological Studies, has studied the lakes for the past decade and says a lack of strict pollution laws aided rampant construction activity.

"The land mafia (private builders and developers) did two things. They altered the quality and quantity of water," Ramachandra says. "When water shrinks the land sharks move in. There are lot of loopholes in the system."