City lakes sink as BDA faces apathy

City lakes sink as BDA faces apathy
BY CHANDRASHEKAR G.
BENGALURU


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I BDA has dream schemes but little cooperation I The BDA’s repeated requests to several departments seeking information on the extent of lakes, sketches of lakes, catchment areas and encroachments have fallen on deaf ears

The state govern-ment’s plan to rejuvenate the city’s lakes is sinking, thanks to the indifference that its various departments have shown to the Bangalore Development Authority’s (BDA) request for information on the water bodies.
The BDA has been directed to rejuvenate and develop 12 lakes to improve the ground water table and the city’s aesthetics. The project is being taken up under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), and money is available from the Centre as well as from the BDA itself.

In fact, the BDA has already prepared Detailed Project Reports (DPR) for a few lakes and sent them to a steering committee of the Union government for approval. It has made substantial allocations for the purpose in its own budget. It has written to the survey and remote sensing departments to help collect data. It has even dreamt up schemes for treating the water from these lakes with modern technology so that it could be utilised for drinking water supply in the future.

Still, it can’t get started.

The 12 lakes are under the jurisdiction of zilla panchayats, the forest department, minor irrigation department, special deputy commissioners and other authorities. Developing such lakes without detailed surveys, status information and documents is difficult. And, therein lies the problem.

The BDA’s repeated requests to these departments seeking information on the extent of lakes, sketches of lakes, catchment areas, tippani copies (land purchase document), and encroachments have fallen on deaf ears.

To the over one hundred letters that the BDA has sent out, less than a handful of departments — notably those for minor irrigation and forests — have replied until now saying they will provide the information.

Worse still, BDA sources said they are not even hopeful of finding documents about lakes that are under the jurisdiction of special deputy commissioners.

Meanwhile, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has also been entrusted with development of 20 lakes. Of these, three were recently handed over to the Palike while it already held sway over 17 other lakes.