The Rs6,28-crore lake rejuvenation work, which began in October 2008, is now in its second phase.
Dorekere Lake was once the hub for film and television shootings, a place for morning walkers, a recreation spot for children who enjoyed boating and a pilgrimage for bird watchers and wildlife photographers.
Now, it is a cesspool filled with garbage and sewage water. And it cries for help as people avoid the water body. The 28.23-acre lake located in Uttarahalli ward is maintained by the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) which, despite its rejuvenation works, has miserably failed in stopping the dumping of plastic, tyres, tubes and other waste in it. Entry of sewage water from the surrounding apartments has added to the mess.
The Rs6,28-crore lake rejuvenation work, which began in October 2008, is now in its second phase. The project includes prevention and control of lake pollutants by diverting the flow of sewerage water, drying and desilting the water body, fencing to prevent encroachments and removal of existing encroachments.
But after the completion of the first stage of works at Rs0.97 lakh, sewerage water is still flowing into the lake. Residents blame it on the negligence of Palike officials. Environmentalist AN Yellappa Reddy had inspected the lake on December 19 2009 and slammed engineers for their shoddy rejuvenation work. Even after visits by chief minister BS Yeddyurappa and home minister R Ashoka later, the lake remains neglected.
On December 23 2009, officials from the BBMP, Lake Development Authority (LDA) and BWSSB conducted a joint inspection of the lake and later held discussions with local residents’ welfare associations (RWA).
“We placed three demands before the authorities: desilt the lake, stop entry of sewage water into the lake and prevent encroachments. Till today, they have failed to address these issues,” said member of BHCS Layout Residents’ Welfare Association Mahesh Kumar BV.
According to RWA members, after two years of rejuvenation works, sewerage water is still let into the lake from all directions. It comes from apartments in Kumaraswamy Layout, Gowdanapalya, and Ninaznagar.
Kumar said desilting should have been done at least up to 1.5 metres covering the whole lake bed. Also, the desilted waste should have been transported away instead of being used as an embankment. The porous pitching adds to the pollution.
An impact assessment study conducted by the Bangalore University says that even in fresh water lakes, decay of uranium in waste releases radon gas which causes lung cancer. The situation is far more dangerous in the case of lakes like Dorekere which are not properly desilted.
Residents say the BBMP’s `2.15 crore sewage treatment plant is a waste of money as it can treat only 1mld of water. The rest of sewage water enters the lake untreated.
“Sewage still flows from all corners and the waste-water line gets blocked. The southern part of the lake has become a landfill for debris dumping,” residents said.
They said the BBMP should clean up the lake bed and drill 50 to 100 bores to facilitate recharging of water. According to managing trustee of Big B Metropolitan Solutions S Amaresh, the BBMP’s failure in rejuvenating the lake is due to lack of technical persons.
“They do not have the technology and equipment for desilting. They do not have the technical manpower. For desilting work, they are employing civil engineers who are not technically competent. Engineers from irrigation departments should be hired for this sort of work,” he said.
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