BENGALURU: A solution appears in sight for the problems at Varthur lake. A corporate concern has come forward to revive the lake. This is the third lake under the ownership of BDA that will be developed by a private firm.BDA Engineer Member P N Nayak told Express that Bengaluru-based Mineral Enterprises Limited has come forward to develop the lake under its Corporate Social Responsibility scheme.
“We have signed an MoU with them. They are now in the process of preparing a Detailed Project Report on how they plan to go about it,” he said.
The Varthur lake along with the Bellandur lake attained national notoriety for spilling toxic foam on to the surrounding streets in December 2016 following heavy rain. Since then, there have been a few more instances of such frothing taking place.
Basant Poddar, Managing Director of Mineral Enterprises Limited, said the group had ambitious plans to develop the lake that extends to over 400 acres.“We have been involved in desilting the Bhimasandra lake in Chitradurga and have some experience in the field. This will be the first time we are getting fully involved in reviving a lake. An advisory concern, Sensing Local, is preparing the DPR for us.”Elaborating on the way the concern plans to go about the job, Poddar said priority would be accorded to deweeding the lake of all its hyacinth.
The plant comprises 80% of water which will be squeezed out of it and the dried plant will be converted into organic manure. “Members of the Whitefield Rising Group have come forward to offer their land to facilitate this,” Poddar said.A walkway will also be provided around the fence that BDA plans to erect here in future. Four to five islands with creepers and plants will be created inside the lake, he added.
Bellandur Kere Habba to be held today
The Bellandur Kere Habba - a day-long series of events to both celebrate efforts to restore the lake and to bring more attention to it - will be held on the Bellandur-Yamalur lake road from 7am on Saturday. Such an event for Bellandur lake is being held for the first time. Seema Sharma, an organiser of the event, said, “With the NGT order, the lake did receive a lot of attention and plans were chalked out to revive the lake. But they are not moving at a good pace. So, instead of carrying out a protest like every time, we thought why not celebrate what is being done and draw attention of the officials concerned to the lake one more time.” Top officials from civic agencies have also been invited for the programme, which has a long line-up of events.