NGT instructs to cut off water supply to errant buildings near Bellandur lake

It seems like every effort social activists, environmentalists and locals are doing to save the lakes is falling to naught. Every time it rains the Bellandur Lake froths and spills onto the road creating chaos and traffic jams. Not to mention the froth is toxic to humans.

In the past few days, the matter of the Bellandur Lake has come before the NGT and the Karnataka government has been asked to respond as to why the Bellandur Lake fire happened in the past, what measures have been taken to prevent the incident from happening again and more.

Also read: Namma Bengaluru checks Bellandur Lake encroachment by Mantri Techzone

Bengaluru Development Minister KJ George attributed the froth in the lake to the presence of phosphorus in detergents and said that government was building sewage treatment plants to stop it.

But now tired by the repeated excuses from the authorities, pressure from lake activists and media exposure, the NGT has given strict orders to the Karnataka government that it must reply within 10 days and present before it the methods they are adopting to clean the Bellandur Lake.

Additionally, since there are a lot of residential buildings in the vicinity which are suspected to be also responsible for the lake’s present condition, the Tribunal has ordered a penalty on them as well. The NGT has ordered the authorities to disconnect water and electricity supply to apartments near the lake that had not installed sewage treatment plants as yet. In fact, untreated sewage is one of the major reasons for pollution in the lake. The Tribunal has also ordered that the buildings in the lake’s vicinity be monitored as to how they were disposing off their solid wastes and has issued notices all apartments near the lake in this regard.

Also read: Why nothing has been done to clean up Bellandur lake: NGT raps State government

In order to prevent the lake from being further polluted the NGT had previously ordered the state government to shut down polluting industries around the lake. But even then the state government has been slow to follow orders.

Namma Bengaluru Foundation (NBF) has been assisting the Tribunal regarding the Suo-Moto case on Bellandur Lake Fire by submitting a detailed dossier with pictures of encroachments and dumping of debris and garbage on a regular basis. The NBF legal team also updated the tribunal regarding the inadequacy of actions taken by the various state agencies on the Bellandur issue and stressed for a detailed affidavit to be placed in front of the court and verified by court appointed commissioner.

• Bellandur Lake
• NGT
• Varthur Lake
• Sewage treatment plant
• shut off power to building
• Buildings near Bellandur Lake
• Namma Bengaluru Foundation
• froth
• toxic foam in lake
• Bengaluru lakes