Lakes in Bangalore likely to be declared reserve forests

Lakes in Bangalore likely to be declared reserve forests

Swathi Shivanand and Divya Gandhi

Move to prevent encroachments, evict illegal occupants of lake area

114 lakes proposed for declaration as reserve forests

Lakes notified under PPP may be excluded

— FILE Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

Preserving for posterity: Ulsoor lake in Bangalore will be among those declared reserve forests, if the Forest Department proposal is accepted.

BANGALORE: In a landmark move to protect lakes from encroachments and mismanagement, the Forest Department has proposed that all the 114 lakes within the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike limits be declared “reserve forests” under the Karnataka Forest Act, 1963.

This will be for the first time in the State, and perhaps in the country, that lakes and their catchment areas are going to be designated forest areas, say Forest Department officials.

Up until now, a few lake catchment areas have been declared reserve forests, but never the water-spread area.

Explaining the implications of such a declaration, Forest Department officials told The Hindu that it would give them more powers to prevent encroachments, evict illegal occupants of lake area and even arrest offenders without a warrant.

“It accords the Government inviolable rights over the lake area,” said C.S. Vedant, chief executive officer of the Lake Development Authority.
Streamlined

Declaring lakes as reserve forests would also mean that the multiple ownership, custodial and maintenance rights over the lakes will be streamlined and brought solely under the Forest Department.

The lakes are currently owned variously by the Revenue or Minor Irrigation departments; they are under the custody of the Forest Department and maintained by the Lake Development Authority, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike and the Bangalore Development Authority.
Discussions

This proposal was discussed on Tuesday at a meeting chaired by Abhijit Dasgupta, Principal Secretary, Environment and Ecology. The proposal, made over a year ago (and stalled for various reasons), recently gained renewed importance in view of the large-scale encroachments of water bodies that have come to light.

The 114 lakes that have been proposed for declaration as reserve forests were initially identified in the N. Lakshman Rau Committee Report submitted to the State Government as early as 1987.

When the lakes are declared reserve forests, a Forest Settlement Officer will be appointed to assess the rights of the existing stakeholders of lake resources.

Once the evaluation of rights is completed, “it will not allow for any new acquisition of rights,” said Mr. Vedant.
PPP lakes excluded

However, lakes notified for development under the controversial public-private-partnership (PPP) will most likely be excluded from the proposed delineation. These include Hebbal lake, Nagavara lake and Vengaiahanakere lake — which have already been leased to various private parties for “development and maintenance” for a period of 15 years — and 11 others earmarked for lease.

Declaring lakes already given on lease to private partners as reserve forests could be a violation of the agreements signed between the Lake Development Authority and private partners. “Accessibility of the private partners could be curtailed if they are declared as reserve forests,” said Mr. Vedant.

A senior official of the Forest Department, who did not want to be named, cited this as the primary reason for keeping these lakes from being declared as reserve forests.
LDA role not undermined

Would this mean a reduced role for the LDA? “Even if the 114 lakes are taken out of our purview, the LDA’s role will not be diminished as we will still monitor the nearly 2,700 lakes in the Bangalore Metropolitan Region,” Mr. Vedant maintained.