Come December and lakes in Bengaluru, and other urban areas of the State, will come under a new management that is touted to be stricter.
The rules for Karnataka Lake Development and Conservation Authority (KLDCA) Bill, 2014, which was passed by the Assembly in February, was cleared by the Law Department on October 28.
The confusing array of bureaucracy that shrouds lakes is expected to make way for a simpler protection of lakes with the enforcement of the Act.
With this, the rules will now be approved by the Minister for Environment and Forests before a draft notification is published. A few more government procedures to be followed, and officials expect the authority to be up and running by November-end.
“We will publish the draft notification and give 15 days for calling objections and any minor changes. Orders for staffing were waiting for the rules to be approved. All of this should be done very soon,” said M. Madan Gopal, Additional Chief Secretary, Forest, Ecology and Environment.
The process is expected to go faster considering that there will be very few recruitments to the authority, which will be headed by the Minister for Minor Irrigation with officials from nine departments comprising members. “Within a week, we will notify other departments to depute officers as staff for this authority,” said Mr. Gopal.
The formation of the authority will see the “automatic” merger of the Lake Development Authority, a registered society that has oft been called by activists as being “toothless” in handling of lakes.
Apart from over 201 lakes in the city, the KLDCA will have regulatory control over all lakes in Mangaluru, Hubballi–Dharwad, Mysuru, Belagavi, Tumakuru, Davangere, Ballari, and Kalaburagi corporations.
Being in prospective effect, the authority can remove encroachments, penalise or jail encroachers (between Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 20,000 as fine, and between six to two years as jail term) and even officials who have “not acted or failed” to remove encroachments.
Welcoming the replacing of “useless” LDA with the legislatively powerful KLCDA, Kshitij Urs from People’s Campaign for Rights to Water, said there was still a need to ensure that the authority did not become another “parallel” structure. “There needs to be a democratisation of lakes, where people are involved in the upkeep of the lake. Lakes have to be water commons, and not governed only by government bodies,” he said.
Karnataka Lake Development and Conservation Authority Bill, 2014
Passed in the legislature in February 2015
Governor gives assent in April
It will comprise
a) A 16-member governing council, including three ‘non-officials’ and subject experts
b) Minister for Minor Irrigation will be the chairperson of the governing council
c) A 12-member executive committee of principal secretaries and heads of Bengaluru civic bodies
It will cover
Lakes and catchment areas in municipal corporations of Mangaluru, Hubballi–Dharwad, Mysuru, Belagavi, Tumakuru, Davangere, Ballari, Kalaburagi, and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike
Its objectives are
1) Protect, reclaim and rejuvenate lakes
2) Create habitat for flora and fauna in lakes
3) Conduct environment impact assessment for all lakes
4) Utilise the lakes for the purpose of drinking water, irrigation, education or tourism
It can
1) Raise funds for development of lakes
2) Order for removal of encroachments
3) Penalise those dumping in lakes, discharge sewage (directly or indirectly) or encroaching lake-bed: imprisonment between three and five years; and fines between Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 20,000.
4) Penalise government officials who have not stopped encroachment or pollution of lakes: imprisonment for a maximum of a year, fine of Rs. 10,000.
