The Hindu               18.12.2013

Mayor promises funds for Kempambudhi lake

Mayor B.S. Sathyanarayana has said he will sanction funds for development of Kempambudhi lake.

He was speaking during an inspection of the lake here on Tuesday. Along with him were the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner M. Lakshminarayana and R.V. Devaraj, MLA.

The Mayor, the Commissioner and the MLA directed officials to take steps to remove silt from the lake and clear all encroachments.

Besides, they also directed officials of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board to set up two sewage treatment plants (STPs) near the lake and put in place a separate pipeline to ensure that the sewage does not enter the historical lake.

“Though several projects have been taken up for the development of the lake, none have yielded the desired result. I will sanction some funds from my grants for the development of the lake,” said Mr. Satyanarayana. He directed the BBMP officials to prepare an estimate for taking up the development of the lake.

Encroachment

Nearly six acres of the Kempambudhi lake area near the Kempe Gowda tower and Bandikalamma temple have been encroached, but the BBMP officials have taken no steps to clear the encroachments, locals complained to the visiting delegation.

Mr. Sathyanarayana told the locals that he would direct the officials concerned to clear the encroachments on the lakebed within a week of getting full details about the extent of encroachments.

Mr. Lakshminarayan said that the as per the Supreme Court direction, the BBMP can evict encroachers without issuing any notice.

Mr. Devaraj said that he would supervise the encroachment removal drive on Sunday after which the recovered area would be fenced.

The Commissioner directed the BBMP officials to take action and levy penalty against those dumping debris on the lakebed.

Gandhi Bazaar market

Later, the team inspected Gandhi Bazaar where the market owned by BBMP is in a dilapidated condition. The delegation said that though the market was in a bad state, traders were neither paying rent to the BBMP nor were they vacating the place.

Mr. Lakshminarayan instructed the BBMP officials to convince the traders to move out so that multi-level parking facility could be built in its place. Mr. Sathyanarayana suggested that a small complex to house BBMP offices could also be constructed along with the parking facility.

The Hindu               18.12.2013

146 unauthorised layouts in TG Halli baffles court

A survey by the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) on the directions of the Karnataka High Court has revealed that 146 unauthorised layouts were formed within one kilometre of the banks of Arkavathi and Kumudavathi rivers, which is categorised as a protected zone (Zone-3), around Tippagondanahalli (T.G. Halli) catchment area.

In its draft preliminary report submitted to the court on Tuesday, the BDA also stated that 482 non-residential structures and 3,506 residential units have come up in 23 villages falling in Zone-3, which comes under the jurisdiction of the BDA.

The BDA had submitted a draft report after working over the last weekend as the agency had been given three days (December 14-16) by the court to identify illegal structures in the 23 villages.

Court baffled

“This [number of unauthorised layouts] reflects on the administration of the BDA, which is responsible for town planning and development of this area,” said Justice A.N. Venugopala Gowda.

“If the BDA had prevented formation of unauthorised layouts, people would not have invested their money on houses in these areas,” the court observed.

While expressing displeasure over the manner in which the BDA allowed these unauthorised activities in its jurisdiction for the past 10 years, the court said BDA’s inaction defeated the purpose of the November 18, 2003 notification by the State government categorising the catchment area under various zones. It allowed only agriculture and agriculture-related activities in Zone 3 without prior permission from authorities with the intention of protecting it from pollution.

The court said it would constitute a committee, headed by an Additional Chief Secretary, to monitor activities in the area after being informed that another 100 villages falling in Zone-3 come under other planning authorities. The court will pass an order on constitution of the panel on December 18.