The Mestripalya Lake at Koramangala is likely to get a fresh lease of life, after nearly seven years, with the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) agreeing to fence the nine-acre lake bed soon.
The BDA engineer in charge of the area told Deccan Herald that a Rs 12-lakh tender has been called to fence the lake and the work is expected to be executed in a week. The decision, however, came after much dillydallying in preparing the detailed project report (DPR), followed by getting approvals from the Lake Development Authority (LDA) and the Revenue Department.
The Mestripalya Lake has been under dispute for a long time, with the BDA having almost encroached 6.21 acres of the total 16.4 acre-lake bed. The Authority has allotted sites formed on the encroached land to six legislators. To save lung space in the area, members of the Koramangala III Block Residents’ Welfare Association filed a writ petition in 2005 demanding that the BDA should not allot 6.21 acre of land to anyone but preserve it for open space, park, playground etc. The matter is pending in the court since then.
Recently, the High Court directed BDA to file the status report whether it wants to retain the disputed 6.21 acre of land as lung space or will convert the site into layouts. The BDA was given a week’s time to file the report.
Vijay Menon, a member of the Residents’ Welfare Association, said that the residents have faced many hurdles in conserving the Mestripalya Lake.
“First, it was the preparation of the DPR, which was not handled by a competent consultancy group.
DPR prepared
After much persuasion and recommendation for an expert opinion, the DPR was prepared and approved by both, the LDA and the BDA. The biggest hurdle, however, was procuring the original survey report of the lake bed to identify the actual boundaries of the lake. This took over a year for the Revenue Department,” he added.
Vishwanath Kashyap, another member, is still apprehensive about the BDA actually taking up the work.
He says, “The details with BDA of the boundaries of the lake do not match the details in the records maintained by the Revenue Department. This may delay the rejuvenation process further,” he lamented.
K Manjappa, in-charge of lakes, BDA, said that all records are clear and the fencing work will be carried out in the coming days.