BENGALURU: It was a special occasion for the residents of Whitefield and members of Whitefield Rising as they succeeded in roping in corporates, the public and government agencies to rejuvenate the Kundalahalli Lake, which was stinking because of the inflow of household sewage and industrial effluents.
Qualcomm India, United Way, Whitefield Rising and the BBMP have come together to set up a Sewerage Treatment Plant at a cost of around Rs 2 crore to treat 780 kilo litres of water per Day (KLD). The ground-breaking ceremony for the STP was performed by Bengaluru Development Minister K.J. George and MP P.C. Mohan along with Mayor B.N. Manjunath Reddy.
Mr George said that the government will extend all help to set up the plant. He said that a short and long-term plan will be drawn up after consulting experts and Rs 1,500 crore is being spent for the comprehensive development of the city. Elevated and signal-free corridors have been taken up to beat traffic jams. Tenders for Rs 700 crore of road development works will be floated on Tuesday, he added.
Arvind Kerthi, a community organiser said that Kundalahalli Lake, an upstream of Bellandur Lake, is highly polluted and there is a dire need to revive the water body. Citizens of Whitefield and members of Whitefield Rising approached a few companies to allot funds from their Corporate Social Responsibility corpus to establish the STP.
“Companies Qualcomm and United Way, and the residents joined hands to ensure that enough funds were available. Qualcomm granted Rs 1.2 crore. This STP does not need electricity to run. The plant with multiple chambers treats water in an anaerobic method. This reduces the maintenance,” he said.
The capacity of the plant, which will be ready by June, will be enhanced as and when the funds are collected. Desilting and rejuvenation of the lake will help improve the ground water table, he said.
Earlier, over 30 species of birds visited Kundalahalli Lake, but due to the contamination the numbers have dwindled to just a handful.
