BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Thursday directed the designated BBMP officers to take action under Section 22 of the Karnataka Tank Conservation and Development Authority Act and remove the encroachments in Subramanyapura and Begur lakes in six weeks. The state government was asked to extend all help to the officers. A division bench of Justices Alok Aradhe and JM Khazi passed the order after hearing a batch of PILs regarding the lakes. In its order dated April 18, 2022, the court noted the following encroachments identified by the state government.
In respect to Subramanyapura Lake, the state government stated there is an encroachment of 1 acre 7 guntas which is used as the only connecting road between Subramanyapura and Uttarahalli. There is also an encroachment of 3 acres 39 guntas by slum dwellers of Bhuvaneshwarinagara Kolache Pradesha, Uttarahalli. The removal of encroachment by slum dwellers needs to be carried out by Slum Clearance Board as it is a notified slum.
For Begur Lake, the state government have found that an extent of 6 acres 37 guntas is encroached by private persons in the lake area, and encroachment of 1 acre 36 guntas has already been removed. The encroachment of lake area by government is 3 acres 26 guntas. An extent of 11 guntas is utilized for the purpose of formation of island, which BBMP is proposing to develop, in the middle of the lake.