BENGALURU: FOAM oozing out of the city’s largest and most polluted lake — Bellandur Lake — has become a common sight these days. On Friday, the foam caught fire yet again, raising severe environmental concerns.
According to fire safety officials, the incident occurred around 12 noon and lasted nearly for an hour. The lake has been covered with foam for several months now. The froth had earlier caught fire during May 2015. A fire official from Sarjapur Road unit said, “We got the information at 12.09 pm and a vehicle was rushed to the spot immediately. It took about 1 hour to douse the fire.”
Many residents complain that discharge of effluents from nearby industries and untreated sewage from nearby areas has led to the accumulation of methane gas, which is the primary reason for fire.
Scientist Prof T V Ramachandra of Centre for Ecological Sciences (CES), said, “This could have happened after dry weeds were set ablaze by a few miscreants. There are ways to stop weed growth. Due to sewage water inflow, the lake gets enriched, which leads to weed growth. The issue can be sorted with the help of local farmers,” he added.
Many residents said that their repeated complaints on lake conservation has gone to deaf ears.
“The civic authorities have not learnt any lesson from last year’s fire incident. We want the authorities to end this problem soon. The authorities concerned should take stringent action against those releasing untreated effluents and sewage to this lake, which was once a drinking water source,” said Rajeshwari, a resident of the area.