BENGALURU: The Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Monday submitted an action plan to the Karnataka High Court for the protection of lakes and stormwater drains (SWDs) from encroachment, fixing responsibility on the officers designated to protect the water bodies. The court accepted the action plan with some modifications.
The plan was placed before the division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit, in compliance with the order passed by the court on August 1, 2023, to prepare an action plan in coordination with other stakeholders, under the aegis of Karnataka State Legal Services Authority.
Chief Engineer Vijaykumar Haridas, Lakes Division, BBMP, stated before the court that the Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), Urban Development Department, issued two separate notifications for the appointment of designated officers with the responsibility of prevention of encroachment of lakes and primary/secondary drains, and for clearing of encroachments, in response to a letter addressed by the chief commissioner on August 9.
21 lakes are clear
According to the action plan, of 202 lakes within the BBMP’s jurisdiction, 21 lakes are free from encroachments while 19 are disused. One lake has been partly handed over, and two lakes are yet to be given by local bodies to the BBMP. For the remaining 159 lakes, a weekly action plan for 10 lakes per week has been formulated, to clear them of all encroachments. Accordingly, a 16-week plan has been prepared for lakes in nine zones of BBMP.
Procedure to remove encroachment
After intimation from the executive engineer of the Lakes Division, a complaint is to be filed before the designated authority under the Karnataka Tank Conservation Development Authority (KTCDA) Act. The Authority has to request the jurisdictional tahsildar to conduct the survey and mark the encroachments.
After the survey, an eviction order is to be passed by the Authority. After 30 days -- the period prescribed under KTCDA Act to prefer an appeal against the order of eviction -- the removal/demolition of the encroachment would be undertaken in the presence of revenue and police officials.