Bangalore, December 18: Mayor B.S. Sathyanarayana has said he will sanction funds for development of Kempambudhi lake.
He was speaking during an inspection of the lake here on Tuesday. Along with him were the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner M. Lakshminarayana and R.V. Devaraj, MLA.
The Mayor, the Commissioner and the MLA directed officials to take steps to remove silt from the lake and clear all encroachments.
Besides, they also directed officials of Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board to set up two sewage treatment plants (STPs) near the lake and put in place a separate pipeline to ensure that the sewage does not enter the historical lake.
“Though several projects have been taken up for the development of the lake, none have yielded the desired result. I will sanction some funds from my grants for the development of the lake,” said Mr. Satyanarayana. He directed the BBMP officials to prepare an estimate for taking up the development of the lake.
Encroachment
Nearly six acres of the Kempambudhi lake area near the Kempe Gowda tower and Bandikalamma temple have been encroached, but the BBMP officials have taken no steps to clear the encroachments, locals complained to the visiting delegation.
Mr. Sathyanarayana told the locals that he would direct the officials concerned to clear the encroachments on the lakebed within a week of getting full details about the extent of encroachments.
Mr. Lakshminarayan said that the as per the Supreme Court direction, the BBMP can evict encroachers without issuing any notice.
Mr. Devaraj said that he would supervise the encroachment removal drive on Sunday after which the recovered area would be fenced.
The Commissioner directed the BBMP officials to take action and levy penalty against those dumping debris on the lakebed.
Gandhi Bazaar market
Later, the team inspected Gandhi Bazaar where the market owned by BBMP is in a dilapidated condition. The delegation said that though the market was in a bad state, traders were neither paying rent to the BBMP nor were they vacating the place.
Mr. Lakshminarayan instructed the BBMP officials to convince the traders to move out so that multi-level parking facility could be built in its place. Mr. Sathyanarayana suggested that a small complex to house BBMP offices could also be constructed along with the parking facility.
