If a large number of lakes in the Bangalore South region are in a pathetic condition, then blame the district administration, which never surveyed the lakes and fixed the boundaries, eventually aiding the land sharks.
Leave aside small ponds in the interior areas of the villages, prominent tanks such as Kempambudhi Kere, Yediyur Kere, Uttarahalli Kere and Dorekere have not been surveyed at all. These four water bodies were constructed by the founder of Bangalore, Kempegowda, some 500 years ago to ensure water security in his City.
The politicians and officials who compete every year to pay their obeisance to Nadaprabhu Kempegowda during Karaga festival and distribute Kempegowda Awards, have shown scant respect to these water bodies and allowed them to be encroached upon.
According to BBMP sources, at least 50 lakes in the Bangalore South region are already in the clutches of land sharks. Apart from the four, prominent lakes in the clutches of land sharks are Sarakki Lake, Puttenahalli Lake, Chikkalasandra Lake, Gowdanapalya Lake, Janardhana Kere, Thurahalli Lake, Venkatarayana Kere, Madiwala Lake, Gottigere Lake, Devasandra Lake, Nyanappanahalli Lake, Arekere Lake, Anjanapura Lake, Hosakerehalli Lake, Somasundarapalya Lake and Ganapathipura Lake.
Despite several missives by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), the revenue department never surveyed the lakes and fenced their boundaries to develop them.
A senior BBMP engineer said the revenue officers are primarily responsible for killing the water bodies in the City. Had the revenue officials acted immediately, the water bodies would not have been in such a bad shape.
“It was only after the High Court cracked the whip that the survey sketches of Mestripalya Lake, Subramanyapura Lake and Sarakki Lake were attested by the tahsildar.
Since Mestripalya Lake and Subramanyapura Lake have become prominent and with the High Court pulling up the tahsildar by warning him of serious consequences, the boundaries were demarcated. However, the reality is that we have been writing to the tahsildar to demarcate boundaries of all the lakes for the last five years, but to no avail,” the engineer said.
The BDA Lake Division engineers too have similar experiences. An engineer requesting anonymity said a list of 11 lakes were given to the Bangalore South Tahsildar to survey and fence them, but no action was taken.
The apathy of the Revenue officials not only aided private individuals to encroach upon the lake bed, but also the BDA officers to encroach on Venkatarayana Kere in Gubbalala village and form a layout of 120 sites.
Former BBMP Commissioner Siddaiah said the survey sketches of most of the lakes were prepared by private agencies which were supposed to be authenticated by the revenue department officers. However, the officers have failed to authenticatte them in many cases.
The matter has been raised even in Lok Adalat, he added. Siddaiah emphasised that the maps should be prepared based on the old records.
RTI application trashed
About seven months ago, Deccan Herald had filed an RTI application about the action taken on the letters by the BBMP and the BDA pertaining to 11 water bodies in Bangalore South taluk. When there was no response to the application, first appeal was filed with the First Appellate Authority (FAA), as mandated by the RTI Act. The FAA is supposed to hold a hearing, but nothing has happened so far. This prompted this newspaper to file second appeal before the Karnataka Information Commission.
When contacted, the Bangalore South Tahsildar Jagadish said he has no information as to how many water bodies have been surveyed. He said he would be able to reply only after going through the records and cross-verifying with the officials concerned.