The State government has directed the Mysuru City Corporation (MCC) to take action against its engineers for botching up a project for the conservation of Devanur lake.
The project was taken up at an estimated Rs. 4.07 crore in 2009-10 under the Chief Minister’s funds to set up a sewage treatment plant on the shore of the lake, to remove silt from the lake bed, besides beautification of the lake with ornamental plants.
But, the lake has now become an eyesore, being reduced to a sewage dump, full of weeds and silt after the work was abandoned midway.
In a letter dated May 23, 2015, Deputy Commissioner C. Shikha has asked MCC Commissioner Betsurmath to take action against the engineers responsible for preparing the faulty Detailed Project Report (DPR), leading to the abandonment of work. The letter has now entrusted the conservation work to the Mysuru Urban Development Authority (MUDA), which will have to follow the necessary procedures while preparing a DPR that has been technically approved by the Department of Minor Irrigation.
Revenue Department officials, who inspected the shore of the lake, had also found encroachment. According to the report, the Tahsildar concerned has found 12 encroachments on the shore of the lake.
Tanvir Sait, MLA, told The Hindu that the DPR was found faulty as there was no provision for plugging the sewage inlets into the lake. The storm water drains leading to the lake bring with it sewage from the underground drainages.
But, during a meeting with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Bengaluru on June 1, Mr. Sait said that a decision had been taken to establish a mini sewage treatment plant.
While the MUDA has been directed to prepare a fresh DPR for preserving the lake, action will be taken to remove the encroachments on the shore of the lake. Though water is spread across 12 acres, the lake’s shore extends up to 100 acres, Mr. Sait added.
Meanwhile, residents of the area have complained that stagnating sewage in the lake was a health hazard, breeding mosquitoes that spread vector-borne diseases among the residents in the surrounding localities.
