NGT order effect: BBMP, BDA demolish Varthur lake encroachments in Bengaluru
After deploying 21 marshals and installing CCTV cameras at Bengaluru’s Varthur lake for protection, the officials went on a demolition drive at 15 guntas and removed encroachments at Kundlahalli bordering Varthur lake. The revenue department identified the encroachment in 2016 and acted following NGT guidelines that lake has to be protected and kept free from encroachment
FollowBengaluru: The dream of many villagers, lake activists and environmentalists to see Varthur lake free from illegal dumping of waste construction debris and encroachment got a shot in the arm as Bengaluru East taluk tahsildar Shivakumar directed Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials to demolish an illegal structure on Varthur lake.
The drive was conducted on Friday (November 29) and was deliberately kept a low affair fearing the owners will get a stay from the court if made public.
According to revenue records, in Kundlahalli village survey number five, 30.20 acres of lake land is identified and encroachment of 15 guntas has come to notice in 2016.
The irony was that even a water pump house was set up illegally and lakebed water was being extracted by drilling borewell.
The officials said that three houses and a toilet built illegally were demolished and large compound area and illegal pump house all have been taken over by the revenue department.
The BBMP engineers were ordered to remove the debris from the demolished area and dump it scientifically on city’s outskirts.
The activists and environmentalists said that all this activity to protect Varthur and Bellandur lakes is being taken up by BDA and BBMP only after National Green Tribunal (NGT) pulled them up few months back.
