Prime land encroached, lake too in danger

Prime land encroached, lake too in danger
Tuesday May 15 2007 09:40 IST

A view of the 15-acre prime land in Chinnappanahalli near Marathahalli.

BANGALORE: While a number of people are busy debating whether the recovered land in and around Bangalore should be auctioned or not, the officials concerned have conveniently turned a blind eye to a brazen land encroachment at Chinnappanahalli, near Marathalli.

A 15-acre prime land (survey no. 20) worth crores of rupees has been encroached during the last few years. It is said that a quarry existed on the said land a few years ago and now it has become a manufacturing unit of hallow bricks.

As if that is not enough, land-grabbers have eyed Chinnappanahalli Lake, situated adjoining the quarry land. With land-grabbers busy encroaching, the lake is set to shrink by a few acres from its original measurement of 11-acre 33-guntas.

It is not that officials concerned are not aware of it. On May 5, 2005, Lake Development Authority had alerted Deputy Conservator of Forests about the encroachment of Chinnappanahalli Lake. On June 13, 2005, the LDA also requested Special Deputy Commissioner to conduct a survey. It is said that the Special Deputy Commissioner had promptly asked Assistant Commissioner (East) and Tahsildar to conduct a survey.

‘‘We are yet to get any information on the survey report,’’ says an official from LDA on anonymity.

The land encroachment issue was raised by Mukyamanthri Chandru, Dr M P Nadagowda and Srinath in the Legislative Council a few months ago. Surprisingly, Minister for Revenue Jagadish Shettar has accepted that a few acres of land has been encroached. The Minister has also assured the members that the land will be recovered.

Meanwhile, the encroacher of the land has rented it out to a hallow brick manufacturing unit. With no officer from Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) visiting the lake, it has become a dumping place for waste material and an ideal place to discharge sewerage water.

‘‘They are very powerful people. We can’t do anything against them,’’ says a hapless wife of a watchman.

When contacted, Syed Kaza, environment officer, KSBPC, said that he would depute his men to the spot.

‘‘It is not possible to for us to visit the lake every day. I am sending my men to the spot to find out the extent of pollution in the lake,’’ said Syed Kaza.

Will the Government find time to recover the land? Will the KSPCB protect the Lake from pollution and encroachment? Only the officials concerned have the answers.