BENGALURU: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) lake department, which is undertaking lake development under the Brand Bengaluru initiative at various water bodies across the city, has a Herculean task of recovering encroached lake land. According to data, 472 acres of lake land encroachment have been identified by BBMP, and the civic body has so far managed to reclaim only 17.38 acres.
Officials from the civic body’s lake wing say that once the survey by the Revenue department on lake land is completed, officials will start a reclamation drive and notices have already been issued to some of the encroachers.
“BBMP has 183 live lakes under its jurisdiction, and following a Supreme Court direction on July 21, 2023, and August 1, 2023, the government has taken up lake land and rajakaluve survey for protection of water bodies, and is also sending notices and removing encroachments. Of 472 encroached acres, 17.38 acres have been reclaimed with help from the Revenue department and police. Efforts are on to launch a drive and reclaim more lake land,” said a senior official, and added that among the bigger encroachers are government agencies on 288 acres, while 188 acres are encroached by private persons. When the survey and marking is completed in 33 more lakes, more encroachment details are likely to emerge.
BBMP is also awaiting completion of the lake land survey and marking of encroached areas by surveyors from the Revenue department. The Assistant Director of Land Records (ADLR) in Bengaluru South taluk and Anekal taluk of Bengaluru Urban district are yet to begin the task, said an official. “Of 183 live lakes in Bengaluru, Revenue surveyors have completed the task of surveying and marking 136 lakes. The department is yet to begin its lake buffer zone identification and encroachment marking on 33 lakes spread across Bengaluru South and Anekal taluks.”
According to a BBMP source, the Palike legal team is a big letdown as it is unable to get a court stay vacated against removal of encroachments in a number of cases, and the lake wing department is contemplating escalating the matter with the Chief Commissioner for a major overhaul in the BBMP legal department.
“Among the surveys done on 136 lakes, BBMP managed to remove encroachments on 29 water bodies. On 31 lakes, only government encroachments have been recorded,” said the source.
