Hennagara Lake In Bengaluru Is Yet To Adopt Remedial Measures For Cleaning The Water Body
Update: 2021-12-19 13:45 IST
Hennagara Lake is polluted with construction debris, garbage and industrial effluents
The lakes inclined within the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) limits have been in the center of attention for intrusion and misconduct in the buffer zone. Environmental activists and locals lamented that the tributaries outside the municipal limits have either been transformed into a garbage dump or the lake beds are being used to pump water to serve the people of Bengaluru Urban.
The Hennagara lake, located off the Jigani-Bommasandra Ring Road, is 700 acres in size, with a 380-acre water-holding area. Farmers have long used the lake to water their fields. Village residents, on the other hand, point out that in the last decade, the building of residences and industries around the lake has had an impact on the lake. Locals claim that, unlike the BBMP bounds, where solid waste management standards apply to apartments, the panchayat in Hennagara rarely worries about garbage segregation, and the lake bed has been utilised as a dumping ground.
One of the biggest worries is that small-scale red-category companies in Jigani are not only encroaching on the buffer zones of storm water drains (SWD), but are also releasing industrial chemical effluents into the canals that join to the significant drains that eventually empty into the lake.
During a recent visit to the lake, I discovered a slew of violations. Each borewell in the city shall be certified under the Karnataka Groundwater (Regulation and Control of Development and Management) Act, 2011. More than 30 tankers are organised on the lakebed at Hennagara to extract water. In addition, a water bottling factory has been built nearby.
It had also been noted that the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board does not inspect the operation of private residential complexes' sewage treatment facilities (STP). When the sewage treatment plant (STP) at a large apartment complex near the lake failed, the sewage was dumped into the drains.
Meanwhile, goons have threatened local people who have addressed the problem of illegalities.