‘Recharging city lakes, SWD are the priority’

‘Recharging city lakes, SWD are the priority’
Bangalore: July 25, DHNS:

Recharging of lake beds and development of storm water drains in the City is the top priority at present said Transport and City in-charge Minister R Ashok.

He and BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah along with officials went on an inspection spree around the Padmanabhanagar consti-tuency on Sunday.

“We will remove all encroachments along the stretch of storm water drains without buckling to any kind of pressure. We need to be prepared to face the monsoon and do not want to hear any water logging complaints ,” said the Minister.

The minister regretted that all lakes in the City had been encroached. "We will make sure all bottlenecks will be removed and alternative drains will be created for smooth flow of rain water," he added.

BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah said that government land will be reclaimed at any cost. “Demolishing illegal buildings and removing encroachments is not a new job for me. Properties worth thousands of crore were reclaimed when I was the BDA Commissioner and now the same method will be used to removed encroachments along the SWD and lake beds,” he said. The Commissioner said that there are 62 lakes under BBMP and survey work to demarcate and develop them has already begun. Besides this, work to improve storm water drain has also started to ensure people staying in the low-lying areas do not suffer during this monsoon.

Storm water drains at Shastrinagar, Banashankari and Itamadu and a dry lake bed at Itamadu were inspected on the occasion.