Forest Dept. fails to preserve tanks

By Alladi Jayasri

BANGALORE, JUNE 4. It has been 15 years since the N. Lakshman Rau Committee on Lakes of Bangalore recommended in 1985 that the management of lakes and tanks (81 tanks were counted at the time) be handed over to the Karnataka Forest Department.

The State Government accepted the report in its entirety and a Government Order dated February 11, 1988, empowered the Forest Department to acquire these tanks and initiate measures to revive and preserve them, allocated funds, and even set up a monitoring committee to review the progress of the work from time to time.

But a trail of writ petitions filed in the High Court, and the department's apparent failure to assert itself when overt attempts at encroachments threaten the existence of these tanks, have caused apprehension in many quarters about the its ability to manage these assets, let alone protect them.

Last week, a crude bamboo structure came up on a property opposite the Doddabommasandra Lake in Nanjappa Layout near Vidyaranyapura, barely a few yards away from a board proclaiming that the land belongs to the Forest Department. Under the bamboo structure is a framed picture of Shanishwara, to which ``puja'' has been offered. Even now there is every sign indicating the beginnings of a full-fledged temple, as lorry loads of material kept landing there as late as Saturday.

Local forest officials have sparked off a controversy by claiming that the spot is not part of the land owned by the department. Mr. K. V. Narendra, Director, Urban Research Centre (URC), shot off a letter to the Deputy Conservator of Forests (Urban), Mr. Vijay Kumar Gogi. Both Mr. Gogi and the Conservator of Forests, Mr. Kanwar Pal, visited the spot, and the department is now engaged in verifying the records. It turns out that the party had sought for right of way through forest land to the spot, which the department had refused.

Mr. Narendra feels that the department has abdicated its responsibilities in favour of encroachers and land-sharks even as it reneges on the commitment made when the Lakshman Rau Report's recommendations were accepted. ``Since 1989, I have been associated with lake preservation efforts at the Doddabommasandra Tank, and it is ridiculous to claim that the land belongs to the Revenue Department,'' he says.

Mr. N. D. R. Ramachandra Rao, senior advocate, who has filed over a dozen petitions on behalf of Mr. Krishna Bhat, seeking directions to the State Government in this regard, concurs with this opinion.

In the past 10 years, eight to 10 writ petitions filed by Mr. Rao have been disposed of. About four cases are pending, and, according to Mr. Rao, the fact that they have been dragging from one adjournment to another ``reveals a pattern''.

``In spite of a hue and cry raised by the public and vigilant green groups, the Government has been consistently disregarding its own order to come to the rescue of the waterbodies and the city's ecological balance,'' Mr. Rao told The Hindu.

Among the four writ petitions pending before the High Court currently is the one seeking a direction to the Forest Department to implement the recommendations of the Lakshman Rau Report and restore the Jaraganahalli Tank, off the Kanakapura State Highway where dumping of garbage and debris was going one briskly at the time of filing the petition in February 1999.

A second petition filed on July 7, 1999 relates to Kalena Agrahara Tank in Begur hobli, where toxic and chemical wastes were being dumped unauthorisedly on a portion of the tank. The petition seeks restoration of the tank to its original condition.

The petition filed on March 3, 1999 makes a plea for the implementation of the February 11, 1988 Government Order and the recommendations of the Lakshman Rau Report in toto. The fourth petition, the earliest of the pending cases, seeks restoration of the Bellandur Tank, where debris and industrial wastes were being dumped.

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