By Kavitha Reddy
I have written a letter to the BBMP administrator about my concerns related to Agara Lake, Somasundrapalya Lake and Mangammanapalya Lake in Ward 174 & 190 of Bommanahalli constituency. Agara Lake, post the Government notification few Lakes which were in the custody of Forest Dept, such as Madivala Lake and Agara Lake, were moved to BBMP Lakes Division. As a lake activist and founding member of the Agara Lake Protection and Management Society (ALPMS), I had serious concerns about Agara Lake being handed over to BBMP Lakes Division with regard to allocation of funds for maintenance. There is a huge difference in the maintenance and monitoring process followed by the Forest Dept and the BBMP Lakes Division. When Agara Lake was earlier under the Forest Dept, things were smooth and well maintained.
Forest Dept was doing a better job
ALPMS discussed these concerns with both the Forest Dept and BBMP Lakes Division extensively several times and had also requested Forest Dept to retain Agara Lake along with Madivala Lake as the Citizen Group of Madivala Lake also has similar concerns. Unfortunately, our voices did not yield results and Agara Lake was formally handed over to BBMP Lakes Division, even though BBMP Lakes Division has some excellent officers with all the right intention. However, they suffer from a shortage of funds for maintenance. Their monitoring process and response to fixing basic issues is a huge concern since the lake was taken over.
Revival of Agara Lake coming to nought
I have personally and through ALPMS sent a list of issues that need immediate attention from the BBMP Lakes Division. They are primarily to do with the maintenance and monitoring of the water body, but so far, they remain unaddressed. It has taken ALPMS, a long-sustained campaign of years to get the state government to revive Agara Lake. However, with the transition from LDA to Forest Dept and now to BBMP Lakes Division, it has been quite disappointing, and I have been noticing a huge drop in the attention, maintenance and monitoring of Agara Lake.
Wastage of public money
Huge sums of public money has been spent on the revival of Agara Lake twice. If the same process continues, what happened post the earlier revival may end up being repeated again. Lakes need to be conserved with strict guidelines and rules, besides proper maintenance and monitoring. This is a better solution to save the lakes without wasting public money on revivals every few years.
Conservation plan is the need of the hour
Therefore, I request the BBMP administrator to have a concrete conservation plan for Agara Lake. All the lake needs is a committed maintenance and monitoring with proper implementation of guidelines and rules.
Somasundrapalya Lake is encroached
Somasundrapalya Lake is on revival mode for over two years and still not complete, leading to continuous cost escalation. The lake has serious encroachment issues by both the private parties and the government (Karnataka Compost Development Corporation). Later, partial encroachments were removed, but the revival process is far from effective without external fencing and recovery of the lake land. Even after repeated surveys, the BBMP Lakes Division is not able to remove encroachments and complete the revival process.
Mangammanapalya Lake also has buffer zone violations
Mangammanapalya Lake has been revived twice, but the fate hangs in balance as there are both encroachments and buffer zone violations. An illegal water unit has been built against the National Green Tribunal (NGT) guidelines even after bringing this to the notice of BBMP Lakes Division and the BBMP Joint Commissioner (Bommanahalli).
Comatose BBMP
I request the BBMP to save these two lakes, beginning with the recovery of the lake land and the complete fencing of the lake land. The two lakes are situated in a Ward where there is a lack of not only greenery but also the right to breathe as people are suffering the stink from KCDC.
Better now than later
Every lake conserved adds to the greenery, improves the ground water tables, and helps in flood mitigation. I sincerely hope that the BBMP finds a long- term solution for the maintenance and monitoring of not only the above three lakes but all the water bodies in Bengaluru.
Kavitha Reddy is a lake activist and founding member of the Agara Lake Protection and Management Society (ALPMS)
