Realty sinks in as lakes vanish

Realty sinks in as lakes vanish
With Bengaluru taking giant strides in development, the first casualty has been its lakes. A city which earlier boasted of 58 lakes has just 17 now. Amit S. Upadhye looks at the reasons why the city is fast losing its lifelines.
BENGALURU



Bengaluru has paid a heavy price for the real estate boom.

Many of the lakes here have disappeared. The city which boasted of 58 lakes in 1973 is left with just 17 lakes today. The Survey of India topography maps published in 1973 had listed 207 water bodies covering an area of 2,342 hectares in the present Greater Bangalore City Corporation area.

Rampant encroachments and indifferent civic agencies have reduced this to 93 lakes spread over 918 hectares of land area.

How did the lakes disappear? A recent survey report on the ‘Wetlands of City’ prepared by the Wetland Research Group of Indian Institute of Science (IISc) says, lakes are getting extinct due to several reasons — anthropogenic and natural.

A burgeoning population, intensified human activity, unplanned development, absence of a management structure, lack of proper legislation and lack of awareness about the vital role played by these ecosystems are the major causes that have contributed to their decline and loss.

“Wetlands are the most productive and biologically diverse ecosystems but are very fragile. They are vulnerable to even small changes. In recent years, there has been concern over the continuous degradation of wetlands due to unplanned developmental activities.

Since 1973, we have lost 66 per cent of water bodies in Bengaluru,” said Professor T.V. Ramachandra, who led the survey.

The principal objective of this work is to evolve a strategy to identify and monitor wetlands using temporal remote sensing data.

Over the years, the change in utility prospective of the water bodies as an agrarian economy has changed as majority of the people are not dependent on the lakes.

“The lakes which were once used for drinking and irrigation purposes are now modifying into entertainment areas,” pointed out H.S. Sudhira, a researcher at the IISC.

lake then ? Marehanhalli Lake is now Marenahalli.

? Sarakki Agrahara Lake has become Doresamipalya, JP Nagar 4th Phase.

? Chinnagara Lake is now Ejipura.

? Challaghatta Lake has been converted into Karnataka Golf Association.

? Domlur Lake has now become Domlur Second Stage.

? Siddapura Lake is now Jayanagar 1st Block.

? Geddalahalli Lake is RMV II Stage, II Block Kadirenahalli Lake is now Banashankari 2nd Stage.

? Dharmambudhi Lake has been converted into Kempe Gowda Bus Terminal.

? Sampangi Lake is now Kanteerava Stadium ? Koramangala Lake is now Natl Dairy Research Institute ? Kodihalli Lake now has Govt buildings ? Banaswadi Lake is now Subbayapalya Extension ? Parangipalya Lake has been converted HSR Layout ? Vijinapura Lake (Kotturu) is now Rajarajeswari Layout.

? Sonnehehalli Lake has now become Austin Town.

? Jakraya Lake is Krishna Flour Mills.