BENGALURU: The proposal was a disaster in the making. But even before the Opposition or the public could protest against the proposal to denotify dried up lakes for other uses and bring them under the ambit of the Karnataka Land Revenue Act, another department shot down the idea.
The Revenue Department sent a proposal in April to various departments and sought its opinion about lakes, ponds and small water bodies that have lost their character and unable to be rejuvenated to be used for public purposes. In an uncharacteristically firm tone, the Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department shot it down saying it cannot agree to the proposal.
“The rural areas in Karnataka are suffering from severe drought and reeling under shortage of drinking water. Farmers are unable to even manage their livelihoods through agriculture. Under Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act, it is the statutory responsibility of this Department to rejuvenate all the water bodies. If we allow this denotification to happen, then we will be unable to recharge the water bodies and it will also lead to the development of unauthorised layouts,” the response from the RDPR department stated.
An irate RDPR Minister H K Patil said that there were 22,000 water bodies on record in the state and this move would immediately affect around 1,500 water bodies. “If we do not recharge the lakes and ponds, then it will not be possible to recharge the groundwater table. Hence we are opposed to this idea,” he stated.
As both BJP and JD(S) started slamming the proposal, Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappa insisted the proposal was misunderstood and said it only applied to water bodies that could not be restored to their original position.
He then defended the proposal saying, “Yes lakes should be rejuvenated and there should be a water policy too. But all the money is being poured into major irrigation projects and there is no money for minor projects or rejuvenating lakes.”
Former chief ministers H D Kumaraswamy and Jagadish Shettar expressed disappointment over the proposal. “If this is what they want to do, then why did they demolish so many houses in the name of encroachment of raja kaluves. What crime had those people committed? This will just encourage more builder-official nexus,” Kumaraswamy said.