The Hindu : Ulsoor Lake to be ready by monsoon

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Apr 07, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

Ulsoor Lake to be ready by monsoon

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE April 6. The cleaning of Ulsoor Lake is expected to be completed in 10 days and lake "rejuvenated" before the onset of monsoon, the Chief Minister, S.M.Krishna, said here on Sunday.

The Chief Minister, who inspected the lake, told presspersons that the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BMP) Commissioner, M.R.Sreenivas Murthy, had informed him that the work would be over in 10 days.

Work on removing silt from the lake, at an estimated cost of Rs. 7.5 crore, began on November 18 last year.

The work had been entrusted to Bangalore-based S.R.I.P.L at a tender cost of Rs. 6.8 crore.

Although the contractor was given July 17 as the deadline to complete work, it had promised to complete work before the onset of monsoon, Mr. Murthy said.

According to a BMP release, 11 high density excavators, 30 dumpers with a capacity of 20 cubic metres and 60 tippers with a capacity of four cubic metres were being used round-the-clock to remove about 4.15 lakh cubic metres of silt. Over 3.5 lakh cubic metres of silt has been removed so far.

The water holding capacity of the lake is expected to double from 600 million litres to about 1,100 million litres after the lake is cleaned.

BWSSB under fire: During the inspection, the Chief Minister expressed discontent with the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) for not taking up repair of a storm drain near the Gurudwara in front of the lake inspected by him six months ago.

Sewage water could be stopped from entering the lake only if the drain is repaired. This delay had affected work on restoration.

The Chief Minister spoke to the BWSSB Chairman, M.N.Vidyashankar, on his cell phone and asked why the work was not taken up.

Mr. Vidyashankar reportedly told the Chief Minister that 12 works related to the restoration of the lake had been completed by the BWSSB and work on the drain would be taken up in a few days.

Mr Krishna, who was apparently not convinced with the reply, asked the Mayor, C.M.Nagaraj, to talk to the Chairman.

The Mayor conveyed to the Chairman that the Chief Minister wanted the work to be completed at the earliest.

The BWSSB, which is involved in the rejuvenation of the lake, is installing silt traps and screen barriers to prevent silt entering the lake.

These will help in diverting the sewage water directly entering the lake. This apart, sedimentation tanks, water diversion channels, regulators, outlets and inlets will be set up.

The silt that is removed from the tank is being transported to quarry pits at B.Narayanpura and Hennur, ASC centre, and Gandhi Krishi Vidya Kendra. The lake, that is spread over 123 acres, has a catchment area of 102 acres.

Besides the Mayor and his Deputy, L.A.Jayalakshmi, the ruling party leader in the BMP Council, M.Nagaraj, the Ulsoor corporator, Saravana, and several top BMP officials were present.

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