Activists protest at Mallasandra lake

Bengaluru: On a mission to reclaim and protect the lakes of Bengaluru, United Bengaluru under the leadership of veteran Freedom Fighter H.S. Doreswamy along with the other local lake activists staged a protest on Friday.

The United Bengaluru members had inspected the Mallasandra Gudde Lake in Mallasandra Ward (Dasarahalli Zone) on June 24, 2017.

During the inspection, it was found that, out of 17 acres 11 guntas, one acre and 16 guntas of the lake bed has been encroached by a BBMP School, BBMP office and some individuals. The lake also has been subject to dumping of debris, garbage, and inflow of untreated sewage.

In a complaint submitted by United Bengaluru to Lokayukta of Karnataka on August 03, 2017, the issue of Mallasandra Gudde lake was highlighted along with other 26 lakes inspected. On October 30, 2018, the Lokayukta directed Joint Director of Land Records (JDLR) to survey the lake and submit the status report.

The fencing work started by BBMP was stopped mid-way for reasons unknown and this gives an opportunity to the encroachers to dump debris into the lake and construct roads and buildings on them.

Mr Doreswamy said, “Officials keep blaming each other than take responsibilities. This encroachment cannot be done in a day or two, the amount of debris would have taken at least a month. This is a clear negligence by the officials.”