Bengaluru: Karnataka State Legislative Assembly Speaker and chairman of the Legislature Committee on encroachment of lakes, Mr K.B. Koliwad on Wednesday said 10,787.28 acres of lakes land worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore has been encroached upon in and around Bengaluru City.
Besides, 1256.13 acres of pond areas worth Rs 16,500 crore and 501.11 acres of Rajakaluves in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike limits worth Rs 11,000 crore too have been encroached upon. All put together, the total encroachment was worth around Rs 1,77,500 crore, he said.
Talking to reporters here, he said there were 837 tanks in Bengaluru urban limits spread over 27,899.29 acres of which 4533.16 acres had been encroached upon. As many as 2194.11 acres had been encroached by the government and 2340.36 acres by private parties. Likewise in Bengaluru rural limits, there were 710 lakes spread across 30,032 acres, of which the government had encroached on 1,062 acres and 5,189 acres had been grabbed by private parties.
Mr Koliwad said 1,256 acres of pond area valued at Rs 16,500 crore) and 501 acres of rajakaluves worth Rs 11,000 crore had been encroached upon. A total 1,14,988 properties had encroached upon the lake buffer zone in BBMP limits. This figure has been arrived by taking Rs 3,000 per sq feet to Rs 5,000 per sq feet as cost of land in city limits.
The panel opined that 1,34,786 properties had been encroached upon in the rajakaluve buffer zone in BBMP limits whose estimated value was around Rs 13479 crore. "We had not considered National Green Tribunal's judgement of fixing 75 mtrs from the edge of water body as the buffer zone limit. Subsequently, we had passed an order to this effect. Upon referring the NGT's order to law department, it opined that the order is applicable with 'prospective' and not 'retrospective' effect. So, the panel withdrew its earlier order and decided to consider the buffer zone to be only 30 mtrs from the water body".
Refusing to disclose the names of encroachers, the chairman said all details would be put up on the website in a few days. Unfortunately, both government and private parties were part of encroachment of buffer zone, The encroachments includes high rise buildings and huts.
"The committee will submit a detailed report on lake encroachment to the government in December. However, report on encroachment of buffer zones in lakes and rajakaluves will be submitted in two to three months".
The panel would recommend to the government to take criminal action against builders and officials who gave permission for constructing building on water bodies. A jail term and confiscation of private properties of builders would also be recommended.
