BENGALURU: Residents living around Mullur Lake in Kodati Gram Panchayat have raised concerns about water contamination after hundreds of dead fish began floating in the water body. A few of them said the water level in the lake had increased because of the rains, and within a couple of days, they noticed dead fish.
It is said the 37.26-acre water body has three inlets, and contaminated water flows into it through all of them. In the past, Western Digital Company and United Ways NGO funded the rejuvenation of the lake.
“United Ways completely ignored the requests from citizens living around the lake and did not make diversion channels for the lake during rejuvenation. Unplanned development and illegal paying guest accommodations (PGs) let out sewage into roadside drains, which pollute the lake,” said Chetal Gopal, a member of Friends of Lakes.
“The need was fencing and desilting. These were taken up. Initially, for two years, the lake received a good amount of rainwater. After PGs mushroomed, sewage started contaminating the lake. We had raised the issue with the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB),” said Radhakrishna Pradeep, the senior manager at the United Ways.
Panchayat Development Officer Muralidhar said the local body noticed the dead fish last week and informed the pollution board and was assured that water samples will be taken for testing.