Poor coordination slowing down Bellandur lake cleanup
BENGALURU: Bengaluru Development Authority sources said the officials are clueless what to do with the mud or debris covering the Bellandur lake bed.
“For now, we plan to pile it up on the bank. There is lack of convergence among civic authorities too as we are not sure whether BWSSB has stopped the entry of untreated sewage water into the lake,” the sources added. BWSSB has invited expression of interest from private firms on Tuesday for treating waste water through bio-mediation.
An official of the company involved in de-weeding said, “As per the plan we will have to make a path to the floating weed harvester machine. This machine, like an underwater lawn mower, can sail on the lake and uproot weeds from the ground inside the lake. Once weeds are removed, the lake aeration equipment will be installed. With oxygen dissolved in water, the water gets purified. The water in this lake can be used only for irrigation and gardening. But de-silting process is a long one. Every two years, de-silting will have to be done.”
However, the official said that this may take 4-6 months, provided there is no rain. “One heavy rain can ruin efforts as the lake will again see inflow of effluents.
BDA Chief Engineer P N Nayak told Express, “On Wednesday, one more JCB will be added. We are looking at cleaning the weeds.”