As much as 26,468 acres of land covering 937 lakes in Bangalore Urban district have been gobbled up, according to the report of the Task Force for Protection of Government Land.
Builders in collusion with the officials have encroached upon vast extent of lake land to construct apartment complexes and form layouts. Their modus operandi is simple: Dump debris to fill the lake. Once a portion is levelled off, usurp it by creating fictitious documents. The defiant act doesn’t end there.
The rapacious builders flout all rules in constructing apartment complexes. The sewerage from the apartments are let out into lakes with impunity, thus destroying precious water bodies.
The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) have turned a blind eye to the violations, according to the report. The report aptly sums up the scenario: “Bangalore was once the land of a thousand lakes. Now, it can be called as the land of a thousand sewers.”
Belated action
A survey of 842 lakes conducted in 2007 found that 2,488 individuals had encroached upon 1,848 acres of lake land. Four years down the line, the Government has evicted only 179 encroachers reclaiming 672 acres. The Task Force has brought to the notice of the Government that 1,176 acres continue to remain in the possession of 2,309 encroachers. The value of such encroached land has been assessed at Rs 1,500 crore.
Of the 937 lakes, 528 are under the control of Bangalore zilla panchayat, 209 under gram panchayats, 72 under Minor Irrigation department, 13 under BBMP and one under the Horticulture department. All the lakes have been encroached upon and no government agency ever made attempts to protect the water bodies from land sharks. “They have remained lakes only for namesake,” the report says.
Court verdicts
The Karnataka High Court and the Supreme Court in their several judgments have restrained use of lake land for other purposes. However, the State Government had been taking up development projects in violation of judgments. The report lists a few instances of the Government decision to hand over lake lands to private agencies.
Lake Development Authority has been constituted under the chief secretary to the Government for the sole purpose of protecting the City lakes. The Authority, however, has remained a mute spectator to extinction of lakes. “The Authority has become a meek body to provide employment to some and allot land to realtors for a gain,” chairman of the Task Force V Balasubramanian has noted.