Bengaluru: As part of its campaign to reclaim the city’s water bodies, United Bengaluru team on Saturday visited Arkavati and adjoining lakes, including Mallasandra Gudde, Singapura, Abbigere and Chikka Banavara in North-West Bengaluru.
Under the leadership of freedom fighter H.S. Doreswamy, the group consisting of lake and urban experts and government officials, inspected these lakes to assess the extent of deterioration, encroachment and dumping of waste.
The team filed a complaint on encroachment at Chikka Banavara Lake with the Soladevanahalli police. Suresh N.R., Convener, United Bengaluru, said, “We need more people joining this movement and that is the only way to reclaim and protect Bengaluru and its lakes.” Doreswamy said, “The local politicians should take the ownership and visit lakes in their constituency at least once a month so that they know the situation.”
“NGT has said that offenders will be fined Rs 5 lakh and request citizens to take a picture of the vehicle that is dumping and file a complaint in the nearest police station. If one person is fined, then I am sure that no one will dare to throw garbage or debris,” Doreswamy asserted.
The experts witnessed that Singapura Lake, in Kuvempunagar Ward has been encroached by both government and private entities. The lake has been subject to a continuous dumping of debris, garbage and inflow of sewage.
“Encroachment is the main cause of the death of the lakes in the city. It can be seen in today’s visit that the huge tracts of lakes has been encroached. We want to know how the government is going to clear these encroachments because all these are permanent structures,” said Mukunda N.S., Founding Member, Citizens’ Action Forum
Similarly, Chikka Banavara Kere, which encompasses an area of 105 acres, too has been encroached by government and private entities. It has also been subjected to the inflow of untreated sewage from surrounding areas, which enters Chikka Banavara though a pipeline originating from Singapura Lake.
