Bengaluru: Ayukta pulls up slum development board on encroachment of lakes
Bengaluru: The Lokayukta on Friday pulled up the Karnataka Slum Development Board for the delay in clearing encroachments around Subrayamanyapura Lake and took a serious note of officials giving misleading facts in the case of Talghattapura Lake.
Subramanyapura Lake
The Lokayukta was upset as he wanted a concrete response from the officials. In his previous order on September 26, 2019, the Lokayukta had directed that the people who have encroached the lakebed should be relocated to slum board apartments.
The Lokayukta had warned that if this work is not completed by December 19, he will initiate an inquiry against the slum development board for noncompliance and slothful work. The next hearing is scheduled for Dec 19.
Talghattapura Lake
The tahsildar’s office submitted that they are waiting for an order from the deputy commissioner to evict encroachers. The Lokayukta had ordered on April 25 that the tahsildar should evict the encroachers.
The Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF) alerted that the authorities have lied to the Lokayukta, saying the survey has been done but submitted excerpts from the Koliwada Committee report. The Lokayukta had directed the NBF to submit objections within four weeks and told the surveyor to respond to the objections. The next hearing is scheduled for February 15, 2020.
Mr Harish Kumar, General Manager, NBF, said, “In summary, this raises the question of accountability of officers to their duties and transparency in how they operate. The government needs to fix these two things immediately by making amendments to the Karnataka State Civil Service Act and its Rules”.
To reclaim and protect Bengaluru’s dying lakes, the NBF had started a ‘United Bengaluru’ campaign led by freedom fighter H.S. Doreswamy in 2017. The NBF and United Bengaluru team submitted petitions to the Lokayukta, apprising him of the condition of 23 lakes on August 3, 2017. Subramanyapura and Talghattapura lakes were part of these petitions.
