Deccan Chronicle 19.12.2009

City lakes to breathe again

Bengaluru, Dec. 18: There’s reason to hope that the city may be able to save some of its lakes, which have been disappearing under the onslaught of urbanisation. The Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) plans to revive 11 lakes around the city by the end of March before the monsoon sets in, and one more by July, according to deputy conservator of forest Amarnath M.V.

Consultants have been appointed from Bangalore University to prepare the Detailed Project Report, Mr Amarnath said during an inspection of the work to restore them on Friday.

The BDA team first visited the Jakkur-Sampigehalli lake where 40 per cent of the work has been completed. Care has been taken to ensure that sewage does not enter the lake anymore. Almost 60 per cent of the work has been completed on giving a fresh lease of life to the Ullal lake spread over 24 acres. The lake has been desilted to increase its water holding capacity and will soon get a jogging track and other facilities. Inspecting the Rachenahalli Lake at Amruthahalli, noted environmentalist and chairman of BDA’s lake development advisory committee A.N. Yellappa Reddy directed the consultants to check if apartments around it were treating their sewage before letting it into the lake.

Mr Reddy felt it was time to give the Byramangala, Bellandur, Varthur and Madiwala lakes a heritage tag to protect them from pollution. He urged the government to issue a notification to protect wetlands and empower their guardians to file criminal cases against those polluting them with effluents and debris.

“The notification could be issued under the wetland conservation rules-2008 of the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF),” he said.

In his view, around 300 wetlands around the city could be protected similarly. “In the last two decades, over 70 per cent of fresh water bodies have been lost. We need to create a framework to protect those that are left,” he emphasised.