Observing that construction of artificial islands within Begur lake is prima facie violation of guidelines issued by the court for protection of lakes, the Karnataka High Court on Friday directed the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) not to continue works related to building of artificial islands and related civil works without the permission of the court.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Mohammad Nawaz passed the interim order following an affidavit filed by Leo F. Saldanha of Environment Support Group, who has been allowed to be an intervener in a PIL filed by Citizens Action Group (CAG) about the plight of the city’s lakes and stormwater drains, through which the court is monitoring actions for the protection of lakes in the city.
In his affidavit, Mr. Saldanha said that the civil works were part the lake’s rehabilitation plan prepared by the BBMP’s lake wing while pointing out that Begur lake is one of the historic lakes in Bengaluru as its existence can be traced to the Ganga dynasty and references to the lake have been found in historic documentation dating back to 890 AD.
The lake, spread over 137.24 acres, is heavily contaminated due to industrial and domestic sewage in recent years, and it is found to be encroached and poorly maintained as per a survey by the Environmental Management Policy Research Institute of the State government, Mr. Saldanha claimed in the affidavit while pointing out that a few artificial islands are being built within the lake to make it a tourist destination as part of a rehabilitation plan. The BBMP is planning to install a very large statue of Shiva on one of the islands.
“We understand the intention of the BBMP to create a tourist spot but the civic body has no authority to reduce the lake by putting up construction,” the bench observed in its order while directing the BBMP to file its response to the affidavit by September 17.
Grievance mechanism
As a memorandum of facts, filed by the counsel representing CAG, complaining that the BBMP’s mobile app ‘BBMP Sahaya’, the web portal and a call centre are not of any help to citizens, the court expressed displeasure over the casual approach of the civic body in setting up a grievance redressal mechanism as per the court’s earlier directions while directing the commissioner to file affidavit in this regard.
