Bengaluru drowned, then why are lakes not full, asks experts

A woman uses a makeshift raft to cross the waterlogged Munnekolala slum, in Bengaluru. Pic/PTI

The torrential rain in the city that flooded the houses and offices of tech honchos and turned roads into rivers of sorts could not fill most lakes, thanks to the land mafia who turned the feeder canals of these water bodies into a sewage drain and diverted their flow, environmentalists said. Benglauru, which the British rulers had called a ‘city of thousand lakes' for having over 1,600, has about 400 water bodies today in the Bengaluru metropolitan region.

This mischief by the land sharks in connivance with some vested interests in various civic agencies and in the government led to the death of lakes in the city, Leo Saldanha, coordinator of Environment Support Group alleged. "The lakes that disappeared gave way for residential layouts, bus stands, bus terminals and tech parks. Sadly, those 400 lakes are also on the verge of destruction."

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Citing the example of Subrahmanyapura Lake in south Bengaluru, he said it has reduced to a cesspool and is choked with weeds. "Ironically, not only the Bangalore Development Authority developed a layout on another lake ‘Venkatarayana Kere' on the upstream of Subrahmanyapura Lake, but a powerful builder also constructed two massive residential complexes exactly on the feeder canals of these two lakes - Subrahmanyapura and Venkatarayana Kere," Saldanha claimed.

Bellandur Lake is the largest water body of the city. File pic/AFP

Further, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) reduced the width of its feeder canal from 60 ft to a mere 10 feet wide drain in two years. The feeder canal of the lake carries the sewage of the nearby apartments and residential layouts, he claimed.

The drain does not empty a drop of rainwater into the lake. Instead, it is diverted to straightaway flow into the subsidiary of the Vrushabhavathi river, which is now reduced to a major sewage drain, Saldana said. Ravi Kumar, a resident of Chikkalasandra, said land sharks gobbled up Chikkasandra, Ittamadu and Narayana Kere lakes and turned them into a residential layout illegally while the civic agency finds itself helpless to recover them.

A woman walks through a waterlogged slum area, in Bengaluru, on Thursday. Pic/PTI

Noted activist S R Hiremath who led a campaign against the encroachment of government land in Karnataka, especially in Bengaluru, said Bellandur Lake, which is the largest water body of the city, had been the victim of rampant encroachment as residential developments happened on its wetland region and its feeder canals. "The problem is those who grabbed the government lands are very powerful and are holding important posts in government institutions as well as all the political parties."

A former IAS officer requesting anonymity said the government is least bothered about the problems of Bengaluru. "The A T Ramaswamy committee report and V Balasubramanian's report ‘Greed and Connivance' are gathering dust in the dingy corners of the government offices. For the politicians and government officers, these reports are like a can of worms, which they don't want to open," he claimed.

400
No of lakes in Bengaluru metropolitan region

1,600
No of lakes Bengaluru once had

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