BENGALURU: The district administration has found that 730 of the 837 lakes in Bengaluru Urban district have been encroached.
According to reports from the tahsildars of North, South, and East taluks and land surveyors, 4,554 acres of lake land have been encroached.
The BBMP and the Revenue Department will jointly tackle these encroachments of lake land and their boundaries in the corporation limits, officials said.
They said that after heavy flooding in 2022 that submerged homes in low-lying areas, the previous BJP government had ordered a survey of all the water bodies and Rajakaluves to check whether they had been encroached.
The survey was carried out to remove encroachments and make way for the free flow of stormwater to flow from canals to lakes and from one to lake to another without obstruction.
As per the report from the deputy commissioner’s office, most encroachments have occurred in Yelahanka and Bengaluru North taluks.
In Yelahanka, 1,147 acres of 105 lakes have been encroached, while 1,183 acres of 123 lakes have been encroached in Bengaluru North. In Bengaluru South, in 179 lakes, 825 acres has been encroached.
Similarly, in Anekal taluk, from 223 lakes, 719 acres of land have been encroached. In East taluk, from 100 lakes, 667 acres of land has encroached.
Among 700-odd lakes encroached in Bengaluru Urban district, 102 are under the jurisdiction of the Palike.
“We have 187 lakes in BBMP limits, and of them, 167 were surveyed after we received complaints. Based on the report from land surveyors from the Revenue Department, we have marked encroachments in 102 lakes. Only 29 lakes are free from encroachments and another 29 have been encroached by government agencies,” said Vijaykumar Haridas, chief engineer, BBMP Lakes Division.
Senior BBMP officials said that if there is better cooperation from the Revenue Department, for example to mark encroachment and also to report on encroachments to the BBMP, the process of removing encroachments can be hastened.