Residents of Bengaluru have joined hands with NGOs to save yet another dying lake.
Pattandur Agarahara Lake in survey number 54 is spread across 12 acres and 37 guntas in Mahadevapura Assembly constituency.On Saturday, over 2,000 residents from areas around Whitefield and Kadugodi along with school children, ward committees and NGOs will stage a peaceful protest near the lake, demanding it be restored.
Sandeep Anirudhan, a resident of Whitefield and Whitefield Rising volunteer said that this will be the first time ever that the residents will stand up for this lake. "People have seen the lake being lost and drying up over the years. People dump garbage and construction debris regularly into the lake. It is about time the lake is restored," he said.
Researchers from the Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, have also pointed in their study papers that the lake has been encroached upon and is being lost gradually. Researchers also demanded that the government departments restore the connectivity of this lake to Bellandur and Agara.
Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) is the custodian of the lake. Authority officials said that the lake was recently handed over to them by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
"BBMP has done some fencing, but we can start with rejuvenation work only after BBMP segregates and clears all garbage and debris from it. We visited the lake on October 26. We will prepare a detailed report on it after which tenders to revive the lake will be called for," said BDA assistant engineer Mallikarjun.