BENGALURU: It is after two long years that Sarakki lake is finally witnessing development works following clearing of encroachments in the area. According to Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials, 10 acres of encroached land that was recovered in the city’s biggest eviction drives is now being added to the water body, thereby expanding the lake area to 50 acres.
In April 2015, one of the biggest demolition drives took place in Bengaluru when hundreds of encroachments, private and commercial buildings as well as roads were cleared on Sarakki lake. Following High Court orders, Bengaluru (Urban) district authorities recovered some of the encroached lake lands within 10 days amid police protection, protests and filing of court cases. As per revenue officials, 34 acres of lake bed area (out of 82 acres) were encroached. The lake was reduced to a dirty water body.
Tank development
Presently, BBMP has launched the first phase of tank development project at a cost of `6 crore, which involves diversion of sewage, fencing and inlet improvement. All these works will be completed within a year. 20 (million litres per day) MLD of sewage that enters the lake from Jaraganahalli is being diverted. BWSSB is setting up a sewage treatment plant (STP) of three MLD capacity on 8.5 acres, which will be expanded to 20 MLD.
Eswarappa Madivali of People’s Campaign for Right to Water (PCRW) said, “At last, the rejuvenation programme has started. However, the temple that is encroaching the lake area should be handed over to the Muzrai department. Even now the stormwater drains are encroached. Our demand is that the development works should be done as per the Justice N K Patil report.”
Removal of debris
The water body now looks like a battlefield where earthmovers are clearing the area where some roads of 30-40m width are being cleared and the soil debris is being removed up to a depth of 1.5-2.0m. To the shrunken Sarakki lake, spread over an area of 40 acres, 10 acres will be cleared and added in the coming months. However, on the main tank bund, there exists a main road (near the RBI colony) which has been left alone for reasons unknown.
Officials say rejuvenation of the lake at a cost of `20 crore will take 2-3 years. And the Executive Engineer says, “Tank will be rejuvenated in one year followed by walker’s pathway and tree plantation. In the second phase, desilting work will be taken up and and so one more tender will be called.
Encroachments still remain
In August 2014, the High Court directed the authorities to clear the lake of all encroachments on a PIL filed by People’s Campaign for Right to Water. However, 17 cases are in the court with property owners getting a stay order. With no attempt to get these vacated, the encroachment clearance drive had come to a halt. Ravi, Executive Engineer (Lakes), said, “With two temples here, how can we rejuvenate the water body? There is no way for the water to flow. If it rains, the area will be submerged.”
