The city of Bangalore once known for
its lake and greenery is shedding that tag much faster than the growth of the
city itself. Real estate greed over the last 15 years has witnessed in the
death of many lake across the city. The environmental activists have been
fighting somewhat a losing battle given the rate and level of encroachment and
disruption of these wonderful water bodies in the city.
Lakes in the localities closer to
rural Bangalore were one of the primary sources of water for the residents. The
lake had a natural flow and connected a series of lakes and stored an excellent
quality of rain water each rainy season brought in.
Somasundara Palya-
Haralukunte Lake which is few kilometers away from Agara Lake is one such lake
that is close to extinction. The lake that was spread over close to 17 acres
just a few years ago has already lost about 3 acres to encroachments. The two
fold encroachment of the lake bed and the catchment area by Karnataka Compost
Factory and the local real estate dealers is out in open for everyone to see.
The modus operandi
is very simple, since the lake is devoid of any fencing, truck loads of debris
from various construction sites gets dumped around the lake eating into the
lake area, piles and piles of un-segregated waste of the Govt run composite
unit adds to the deteriorating surroundings. As lake surroundings get filled by
the debris JCB’s are rented out to even out the area clearly shrinking the
lake itself.
BDA has done very
little rather nothing other than putting up a board asking people not to
encroach, which is indeed a lame attempt to stop the illegal encroachment
without any genuine effort/plan to
revive or save the lake. Land grabbing or encroachments do not happen without
political patronage, which eventually gets regularize using political pressures
and support. It will not be wrong to say that Somasundara Palya-Haralukunte
Lake which almost looks like a sewage pond is heading in that direction.
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| Info gathered by Bala |
The local elected
representatives have shown little or no interest in even making an attempt to
revive and restore this lake. Providing lung space, preserving water bodies
that recharge the ground water and working towards creating an environmental
friendly neighborhood seems to be least of their concern. This kind of apathy
and indifference raise many serious questions on the motive or functioning of
the representatives.
The questions that
will need some answers are:
- What action has been taken to stop encroachment and restrict buildings 30 meter from the lake?
- Why was there no pressure put on BDA to fence the complete lake surroundings?
- What action has been taken against the truck which dumps debris in broad day light?
- What is the master plan to revive the lake and remove all illegal encroachments?
Some of the concerned residents in the
area have been working toward bringing in much needed attention and create
awareness on the need to save the lung space. Concrete jungle that already
around the lake needs this water body to be rejuvenated and brought back to
life, as neighborhood are not just about home it is also about environment.
- Kavitha Reddy