Lakes of Bangalore - Management

Management

Historically lakes in the Bangalore region were managed by a plethora of government agencies such as the Forest Department, Minor Irrigation Department, Horticulture Department, Public Works Department (PWD), Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP), Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), Tourism Department, City Municipal Councils and Panchayats; each organization claiming its own jurisdiction of ownership and maintenance rights resulting in a deficient, inconsistent and uncoordinated approach.

Expert Committees set up by the Karnataka Government, since 1986, highlighted the failure of the various bodies maintaining lakes in protecting them and also suggested that:.

• Existing tanks not be breached but retained as water bodies
• Efforts should be made to ensure that the tanks are not polluted by discharge of effluent and industrial wastes
• Prevent silting up of the tanks by offshore development through tree planting and also removal of encroachments
• Breached Tanks not be used for formation of sites but should be used to create tree parks
• De-weed all tanks and develop aquatic life
• The tank areas where there are no atchkat (agricultural land) should be transferred to the Forest Department for developing tree parks/foreshore tree planting and formation of regional parks
• Encroachments on tank areas by the Bangalore Development Authority / Bangalore City Corporation / Minor Irrigation Department to be removed
• Monitoring of progress of all the above activities by the Forest Department, Bangalore Development Authority, Bangalore City Corporation, Minor Irrigation Department, Bangalore Water Supply an Sewerage Board and Town Planning Department
• Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board to be entrusted with the responsibility for the maintenance of water bodies in a clean and safe condition
• Examine possibility of construction of more tanks along the natural valleys with surplus runoff and implemented.

A Public Interest Litigation was also filed in July 1985 citing the recommendations of the Expert Committee for implementation and the High Court duly directed the Government of Karnataka to take immediate steps for acting on the recommendations. The Government initiated action to establish a separate authority to address the problem of lakes and implement the recommendations of the Expert Committee and the Lake Development Authority was thus established in July 2002.