Deccan Herald 08.02.2010

Spread over 900 acres, the Bellandur Lake is many times bigger than any other lake in the City. While many big lakes have been encroached upon, a vast portion of this lake remains free from encroachment barring 18 acres, where an illegal settlement has come up in the recent years.

Ironically, what appears to be a bane has turned into an advantage for this lake. The unbearable stench caused by the sewage let off into this lake from all directions, has kept the land sharks at bay. Once beautiful, the Bellandur Lake stinks so badly that life is miserable for people living in the vicinity including the residents of Koramangala, one of the posh areas of the City.

Now that the government has taken up the City Lakes Rejuvenation Programme on priority basis, the revival project of this lake got a fillip.

The biggest challenge however, is the inflow of sewage. According to BBMP officials, this lake receives around 400 to 500 million litres of sewage everyday and cleaning and diverting the sewage inflow could be a Herculean task.

“The government has asked us to prepare an action plan for saving the lake. Accordingly, we have prepared a plan, which will be sent to the government for its approval,” said a senior BBMP official.

According to the plan, two 66-ft wide drains would be bulit on the north and south side of the lake to divert the sewage coming from Ulsoor Lake side, KR Market side, Agaram and Madiwala Tank. These drains will run around the bund of the lake and will have outlets at Yamalur village and Bellandur village. But the water will go through a filtering process, comprising silt trap, barrier screen, constructed wetland spread in 2,72,000 square metres and aeration, before being drained out. The filtering materials will include gravels, vegetation to take the Nitrogen Phosphorus and a polishing pond to cleanse the water.

During rainy season, the filteration process will not be carried out because of heavy inflow. “We want to develop it as a model lake in the City, which will be fenced. It will have a garden in the bund area. Besides, people living in the nearby villages will finally be rid of the foul smell,” said the officer.

DH News Service

The Hindu 06.02.2010

Water meters continue to haunt the VMC meet

Staff Reporter

VIJAYAWADA: The issue of fixing of meters to domestic drinking water connections in the city rocked the general body meeting of the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) for the second consecutive day on Friday. Though Mayor M.V. Ratna Bindu adjourned the meeting with a ruling over the issue on Thursday night, corporators of the Left parties, who displayed banners and placards with slogans against the proposed metering of water supply, contended that a fresh discussion was needed.

While opposing the proposal, corporators of the ruling Congress went on an offensive and demanded their Left and TDP colleagues to remove the banners from the meeting hall. With the other side not conceding to the demand, pandemonium prevailed for about half-an-hour over the issue. Despite several appeals made by Deputy Mayor S.P. Gritton, who chaired the meeting in the absence of Mayor M.V. Ratna Bindu, corporators of neither the Left parties nor the Congress relented.

Irked by the developments, a visibly shaken Mr. Gritton announced loudly that the officials were not supposed to fix the meters without the knowledge of the general body. If the officials take any step keeping the general body in dark, legal action would be initiated against the officials, he threatened.

Trouble continued even after tea break, with the Left parties’ corporators demanding fresh resolution and Congress corporators vehemently opposing it.

A prolonged discussion took place over various other issues, including the construction of community toilets and development of a link road between old Excel plant and sewage treatment plant. CPI (M) floor leader Ch. Babu Rao, corporator Donepudi Kasinath and CPI floor leader Donepudi Sankar spoke at length over the problems.

Though Mr. Gritton tried to cut short the speeches of corporators on several occasions, his efforts proved futile. A remark by Telugu Desam Party floor leader Y.V. Ramana Rao that Ms. Ratna Bindu “escaped” from the meeting triggered a strong reaction from all corporators of the Congress. They stalled the proceedings for 10 minutes and made Mr. Gritton announce that the comment would be removed from the records.

The general body agreed to name the newly laid 120-ft. road near Pipula road after former Chief Minister late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.