CHANNAPATNA : Acting swiftly on the severe pollution and encroachment of lakes in and around Channapatna town of Ramanagar, Upa Lokayukta Justice KN Phaneendra on Saturday visited several lakes in the taluk to know the ground reality. Justice Phaneendra directed the Deputy Commissioner of Ramanagara, Yeshwanth V Gurukar, to form a committee headed by him to ensure the compliance of the directions issued during this visit to all concerned authorities. He asked to fix the issues and submit a compliance report from time to time.
Chief Executive Officer of Zilla Panchayat, the Commissioner of City Municipal Council, Executive Officer of Taluk Panchayat, officials of Irrigation Department, Survey and Settlement and Karnataka State Pollution Control Board will be part of the committee.
Based on the TNIE report titled “Channapatna Lakes Choked By Sewage, Lack UGD System’ published by TNIE on May 15, the Upa Lokayukta registered separate suo motu cases regarding Kudluru lake, Hodikehosahalli lake, SM Halli lake, Sunnaghatta lake, Ramammana lake and Shettahalli lake. The report talks about how sewage water directly mixes into them due to a lack of Underground Drainage (UGD) and also their encroachment.
Thereafter, Justice Phaneendra took a report from the Superintendent of Police (SP) of Lokayukta, Sneha P V, Ramanagara, on the issues highlighted by TNIE. In the report, the SP has given the findings stating that the lakes were encroached, and the water of Kudluru Lake and Shetthalli Lake is highly polluted.
During the visit to Kudlur Lake, Upa Lokayukta directed the officials to present the steps to be taken immediately and to remove the encroachment. In order to repair the sluice gate of the lake and restore the level of ‘kodi’ to its original level, as it was reduced, he directed the development of the tank bund for making use of the people for walking.
However, the authorities pleaded that Rs 94 crore was earmarked for UGD, but the proposal for Rs 6 crore for the acquisition of land for the Sewage Treatment Plant has been rejected by the state.
Then the Upa Lokayukta directed them to come up with a detailed project report so that he would speak to the concerned authorities and try his best to get sanction for the funds required to address the pollution of water bodies.
On his way to Hodikehosahalli lake, he visited the ancient Srirama temple on the banks of the Kanva river at Kudluru. Upa Lokayukta expressed displeasure over the authorities for the plight of the river stream. He said that he will take the issue by registering the suomoto case to streamline the river flow.
However, he was upset after seeing SM Halli and Sunnaghatta lakes, which had lost their natural bodies because of severe digging for mud. He directed the forest authorities to look into the woes of local farmers who are complaining about the elephant menace. In Channapatna town, he showed disgrace over Shettahalli Lake, which was filled with weeds and wastewater.