BENGALURU: After floods in October 2024 ravaged North Bengaluru, especially in places like Kogilu Cross and its surroundings, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Lake Division has taken measures in advance to mitigate floods ahead of the monsoon. In the last month, 500 truckloads of silt have been cleared from three lakes in Yelahanka zone.
As per Mahadev, BBMP Executive Engineer, Lakes Division, Yelahanka Zone, work on desilting and cleaning of inlets was taken up in the beginning of April. Desilting and deweeding was done to ensure the water bodies’ storage capacity shoots up.
“Dewatering was done part by part in Atturu Lake (90 acres), Kogilu Lake (73 acres) and Narasipura Lake (15 acres) with a fund of Rs 5 crore. We removed 500 truckloads of silt. Some were diverted to farmers and some truckloads were taken to designated locations in BBMP itself,” said Mahadev.
As flooding in North Bengaluru will have a cascading effect on downstream areas like KR Puram, CV Raman Nagar and Mahadevapura, the Palike has taken up cleaning of Shivapura, Siddapura, Daverabeesanahalli, Allasandra and Doddabommasandra lakes in Mahadevapura Zone.
Officials used coracles and nets to remove weeds and floating materials from these water bodies. “Due to moderate rain in the past 15 days, many drains carried garbage and floating debris. We have removed and installed nets to stop floating materials from entering lakes,” said a senior lake official.