BENGALURU: Just when the residents of Iblur were celebrating the removal of Iblur Lake encroachments by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) after a five-year-long wait, the are is being taken over again for a road-widening project.
The residents pointed out that the lake, spread over an area of 18 acres, has shrunk to 10 acres. The residents said that when they met the BBMP lakes team and enquired about pulling down the fencing, the officials allegedly told them that MLA Satish Reddy had given them orders to do so for road widening work on the stretch.
Member of Iblur Environs Trust Naresh Sadasivan said, “The residents have been asking to restore the road for a long time now and Reddy said that they are waiting for funds from the government to do it. Now, the funds must have reached, but they are not focusing on road restoration and rather looking at road widening.”
When TNIE tried getting a clarification from the BBMP, there was a blame game between the lakes team and road infrastructure team. While the lakes team official said, “The bringing down of fence does not come under us, it’s the road infrastructure team,” an engineer said, “This does not come under our works, it is the BBMP lakes team which is handling it.”
BBMP lakes team Chief Engineer Bupradha said, “I’m not aware of the fence being brought down. I will take necessary action.”