Froth from the heavily polluted Varthur and Belandur lakes will not just be tackled; but, the water will, in a few years time, be treated and let into lakes at Hoskote, Anekal and Kolar, promised Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday. On the second ‘Bengaluru round’ held in a week, the Chief Minister visited the froth-covered Varthur lake as well as the nearby 90 MLD-capacity Sewage Treatment Plant at Belagere.
The Belagere project is coming up over 68 acres, costs Rs. 250 crore, and is scheduled to be completed by August 2016.
“Nearly 450 MLD (million litres per day) of sewage flows into Belandur and Varthur lakes. This will undergo secondary treatment and pumped into lakes around Anekal,” said Mr. Siddaramaiah, adding that septic tanks would be made compulsory in apartments around lakes.
At Varthur lake, members of Whitefield Rising met the CM with their plan to rejuvenate the polluted lake. Armed with a chart, the group said that the development of a wetland and separate inlets for treated and untreated water were needed to revive the lake.
To catch a glimpse of the successful rejuvenation of a lake through local involvement, Mr. Siddaramaiah visited the Kaikondanahalli lake on Sarjapur Road. The lake has been jointly developed by NGOs, resident welfare associations and the city corporation. When informed that a slum was dumping sewage into the lake, the Chief Minister said: “The slum has come up on private land. The land owner will be asked to build toilets else face eviction.”
As a possible solution for the traffic snarls at the busy K.R. Puram junction, which handles almost all of Whitefield’s traffic, Mr. Siddaramaiah said that the Bangalore Development Authority and Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike will be asked to look at the possibility of building elevated expressways connecting the junction to Indiranagar as well as one to Silk Board Junction.
With an eye on the upcoming BBMP elections, the Chief Minister also visited houses being constructed under the Rs. 12.11-crore grant of the Rajiv Aws Yojana at Mahalingeswara slum, near Adugodi. Nearly 260 houses are being built in the area.
