The Karnataka government is the biggest encroacher of the Yele Mallappa Shetty Lake in Bengaluru, as per a survey by revenue authorities who said they have issued notices to private parties but can’t do much over government violations done for “public purposes”.
The survey report by the Assistant Director of Land Revenue in March identified the total extent of the lake at 508 acres and 16 guntas, of which a total of 21 acres and 4 guntas are under encroachment.
“The government has encroached 11 acres and 5 guntas whereas private parties have occupied 9 acres and 39 guntas,” a senior official told DH.
“Clearing encroachment is a long-drawn process. Notices have been issued to private parties and cases have been filed in the land grabbing court. We have submitted a report to the government stating that encroachments by government agencies can’t be removed.”
Among the government, encroachments are the 1 km stretch of National Highway-75, which splits the lake into two, a sewage treatment plant and a naval school.
Over the years, officials have routinely removed waste processing units and other temporary encroachments, but those that have remained have been identified as essential for public purpose, an official said.
Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner J Manjunath, who has taken up weekly drives to evict encroachers from lakes and government lands across the district, said public encroachments that are not used are removed as per rules.
“With regard to public encroachments, we have brought the situation to the notice of the authorities concerned, including the courts. We are taking action against other encroachers,” he said.
The lake was formed after Yele Mallappa Shetty, a farmer, donated a major chunk of his land. Shetty’s great grandson, Lingaraju Yale, said it pains to see the encroachment of the lake.
Lingaraju, who retired as founder director of Karnataka State Remote Sensing Application Centres, said: “Half of the lake’s watershed area and buffer zone has been encroached over the years, posing a threat to its very existence.
He said that “many drains had disappeared and those existing bring waste water, not to mention polluted water, from the 25 lakes in the upstream”.
He said mitigation measures should be implemented to reduce the negative impact of encroachments like roads that can’t be cleared. “More importantly, the storm water drain (SWD) network needs to be restored,” he added.
The deputy commissioner agreed that SWDs require a special drive.
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