BENGALURU: For the past two year residents of Jigani-Bommasandra Road near Hennagara Lake have been living in fear of ‘political goons’ who are allegedly dumping waste into the lake and encroaching it. Agitated by the repeated violations, Tushar Chandra, a software professional who lives in the area, approached the Jigani Police Station and filed a complaint against Shivaraju, an alleged political goon.
Chandra told TNIE: "Every day, truckloads of construction debris would be brought and dumped into the lake bed. Along with this, solid waste would be brought from surrounding apartment complexes to the lake bed, dumped and then set on fire. The lake is becoming a dump yard and we want to save it. I was beaten up by Shivaraju and his men for trying to prevent them from such acts. Despite people telling me not to raise my voice, I continued and finally decided to file a police complaint."
The lake is shrinking because of the dumping and burning, said Dempsi, a local honey trader. The locals said that Shivaraju claimed that he had the support of MLA Krishnappa and a Congress MP and used that to threaten people.
Bengaluru South MLA M Krishnappa said that strict action will be initiated against Shivaraju. “I don’t know anybody of this name. I will tell the police to seize the vehicles and arrest these people. I will also visit the lake site with the panchayat and lake development officials and protect the water body,” he said.