BENGALURU: Bellandur Lake in the city is in the news again for wrong reasons. The white bubbly froth that had covered the lake caught fire on Saturday morning at a culvert, burning for around 10 minutes.
Officials are baffled as such an incident has taken place for the first time in Bengaluru.
Siddaramaiah, regional environmental officer (Bommanahalli) of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB), said, “There is a layer of oil and froth in the lake due to the discharge of effluents from nearby industries. This has led to the accumulation of methane gas, which is very combustible. We believe that it is the methane which caught fire,” Siddaramaiah said.
Superintending Engineer of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), Shivashankar, however, blamed the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for the fire.
Stating that the local body is constructing two bridges across the culvert, he said, “Due to this, a lot of construction material has been dumped, leading to reduction of the culvert’s width. This has led to the accumulation of sewage and foam.”
It is said that no environment engineer from the BBMP visited the lake after the incident.
Bengaluru Urban district Deputy Commissioner V Shankar said he has directed the tahsildar to survey the area and clear encroachments, which are also said to be the cause of the foam. The Bengaluru East tahsildar also visited the area and directed BDA officials to mark their boundary as the lake belongs to the BDA. The lake is spread over 900 acres.
Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) chief engineer (waste water management) S M Ramakrishna said that two sewage treatment plants with the capacities of 90 MLD (million litres per day) and 60 MLD are being set up near the lake.
“This will lead to the discharge of clean water into the lake, which will solve the problem. Also, there are no underground drains in this area, due to which the sewage flows into the lake. We have sent a proposal to the Government of India to initiate development works in the lake,” he said.