BENGALURU: Karnataka Tanks’ Conservation and Development Authority (KTCDA) will soon hand over the lakes and tanks under its jurisdiction on the outskirts of Bengaluru to the newly formed five city corporations under the Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA).
KTCDA manages 46 lakes and tanks on the outskirts of the city. But these water bodies are under the Minor Irrigation Department. Now, 167 lakes spread across 246 acres and 36.4 guntas in Bengaluru come under the GBA.
BK Pavithra, chief executive officer, KTCDA, told TNIE that several new areas have been brought under the GBA. Accordingly, the water bodies, drainage systems and other utilities from these areas will also come under the GBA. So, after the boundaries of each corporation are marked and notified, the water bodies will be handed over to the GBA for maintenance. The new corporations will have the responsibility of protecting the water bodies, she said.
But the forest department, which has a few lakes under its jurisdiction in and around Bengaluru, is not keen on handing them over to the GBA. “We have handed over the Hebbal, Madiwala and Nagawara lakes to BBMP. But they are not being maintained properly.
The size of these water bodies have dropped. We are not keen on handing over the Hessaraghatta Lake or the Yelahanka Puttenahalli Bird Conservation Reserve to the GBA. This is because under the “cup-and-saucer” method of rejuvenation now being followed, natural biodiversity is completely lost -- aquatic species and migratory birds have been hit,” a forest official said.
A KTCDA official said, “When there is clean water and no encroachments, birds and aquatic species will thrive. It depends on the maintenance by GBA engineers.”