BENGALURU: Much to the cheer of lake warriors, Varthur Lake is being readied to hold rainwater during monsoon as 95 per cent of silt is cleared, and officials state that in two days, the water body will be free of Silt. According to BDA officials, so far 52 per cent of the silt from Bellandur Lake has been removed. Once the silt from Varthur Lake is cleared, more emphasis can be laid on Bellandur lake.
Assistant Executive Engineer, BDA Bellandur and Varthur Lake Rejuvenation, SS Aravind, said, “95.59 per cent of silt from Varthur Lake was removed and was transported to farms. Each truckload was GPS-monitored to avoid any discrepancies.
Once this work is done in a day or two, the silt-removal work from Bellandur Lake will be hastened. Last year, due to rain and protests from villages at the Vittasandra quarry pit, silt removal took a hit. Now that the issue is resolved, we will remove more quantity of the accumulated silt before monsoon. So far in Bellandur, 52.22 per cent of the silt has been cleared.”
The engineer said, unlike the silt at Varthur Lake, the silt at Bellandur Lake is unfit to be used in farming, and hence, it was decided that it be dumped in the Mylasandra and Vittasandra quarry pits. As the roads
were not in good condition last year, villagers protested and stopped heavy trucks from entering the stretch, and hence, there was less progress, said the engineer.
Lake activist and member of Varthur Rising, Jagadish Reddy, said he is happy with the progress of silt clearance at Varthur Lake. However, he also expects the authorities to speed up Sewage Treatment Plant work, and garbage dumping and stop raw sewage from entering Raja Kaluves. He credited the development to effective monitoring from the Citizen Monitoring Committee.
“The diversion channel is near the lake and once STP work is complete, the diversion channel has to be removed. The channel often receives sewage and garbage. In case of heavy rain, the channel breaches, and the efforts will go waste both at Varthur and Bellandur,” he said.