Madiwala lake in Bengaluru.
Credit: DH File Photo/Janardhan B K
The BBMP told the Karnataka High Court that it would inspect 159 lakes in the city and sought a 16-week time-frame.
Submitting an action plan to remove encroachments from lakes and stormwater drains (SWDs), the civic body said it would inspect 10 lakes per week.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit on Monday directed the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to submit a status report in six months’ time.
The court also instructed the civic body to reduce the time taken to remove encroachments from 76 to 70 days.
The court was hearing a PIL filed by Citizens Action Group and others seeking directions on desilting all stormwater drains in Bengaluru and installing treatment plants at the entrance of each of the SWDs before water gets discharged into the lake, among other things.
In its affidavit, the BBMP has said it has freed 21 out of 202 lakes in its jurisdiction from encroachments. Of the remaining 181 lakes, 19 are disused, two are yet to be handed over, and one partially handed over.
In a separate affidavit on SWDs, the municipal body said that 655 streams running along 859.79 kilometres of SWDs are properties of the government under Section 67 of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act.
The BBMP sought 172 days to remove encroachments along SWDs, including 20 days to identify new encroachments.
Vacant posts
On a query, the counsel representing the civic body informed the court that half of the posts of jurisdictional engineers, including assistant executive engineers and assistant engineers, are vacant.
“...we deem it appropriate to direct the state government that if 50% posts are lying vacant in the office of the assistant engineers, the state government must take appropriate steps to fill in these vacancies as expeditiously as possible,” the bench said.
The bench further said that identifying new encroachments can be done in 10 days, noting that the BBMP can utilise around 120 engineers/staff working on deputation.