This Man Is Fighting Hard To Save A Dying Lake In Bengaluru, Finally Gets Government's Assistance

One man's fight to save Chinnappanahalli Lake bears fruit as BBMP releases Rs 50 lakh after BM report; but work is progressing at a snail's pace, complains Rai...

Better late than never, they say. After Bangalore Mirror reported on how the BBMP had reneged on the conditions of the three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the Chinnappanahalli Lake Development Trust for the lake's upkeep and maintenance ('Please Don't Go: Bengaluru needs thousands of warriors like Prabhashankar Rai, not one less', May 8, 2017), the civic body has pulled up its socks, somewhat. Stung by the BM report and the criticism that followed, the BBMP has finally deployed a budget of Rs 50 lakh that had been sanctioned in 2016 for 'capital expenditure' on this particular lake.

When BM visited the park, it found that work has begun on extending the compound wall by 180 m for the senior citizens and children's park, arranging for a diversion channel beneath the walkway by pulling up the existing interlocking tiles and construction of a grill around the periphery of the lake.

Indiatimes

BM had reported how Prabhashankar Rai (59), President and Managing Trustee of the Trust, had been somewhat of a lone crusader for the lake for over four years now, pumping in his time and money into its development, and roping in contacts (General Motors, United Way, Siemens) to sponsor costs for works that the BBMP was supposed to undertake. This, after the BBMP decided to incorporate the lake under a citizen-civic authority partnership.

Two MoUs were signed (on April 24, 2013 and August 19, 2016 (Bangalore Mirror has copies of both), but in a classic case of dereliction of responsibility, the civic body did little. In 2016, Rs 50 lakh was sanctioned for proposed capital expenditure on a diversion drain, earth filling, desilting, solar pumps, a compound wall and two water tanks, but no money or work had seen the light of day even a year later. Rai's mounting frustration with the civic body and apathetic residents had led to him deciding to exit the Trust, and with it, give up all stake in the lake and the MoU by the end of 2017. Luckily, the BBMP started the works after the BM report, and Rai continues to head affairs, supervising the work that began six months ago and is still going on.

While work has begun, the approach is, once again, tardy. Rai expressed frustration over the civic body's slow pace of work and the continuing dereliction of responsibility. Much still remains to be done: Levelling and filling of the stretch bordering the adjacent apartments; constructing sluice gates underneath the overflow outlet for draining lake water to dry the lake bed during sewage dump; desilting the settling tank and filling the bamboo trenches after silt removal, and relaying the interlocking tiles (3-4 km has been pulled out, but work has since stopped, making a mess of the walkway and endangering walkers). Cleanup and maintenance of the idol immersion tank too is yet to be done.

Much still remains to be done to fix the Chinnappanahalli Lake

For the shortfall, he is once again leveraging his goodwill with General Motors (which had earlier supplied Rs 1 lakh for farm implements and contributed to 75 per cent of the annual salaries of the staff). This time round, he says GM is supporting the Trust with Rs 4 lakh for installing a three-phase line electrical connection (this was supposed to be done by the BBMP), in addition to nomenclature of 100 species of plants and trees, seven trash bins, 35 bags of organic manure and a yoga and meditation centre. Employees from GM too have been regularly dedicating time and energy to the activities at the lake.

But it is the BBMP that needs to come good on its promises this time around, at least. On Tuesday, a lake engineer was supposed to visit to oversee the works and give a timeframe for their completion, but didn't turn up. This lackadaisical attitude has Rai livid. " If the diversion drain work at this lake is not completed, there is a potential fish kill waiting to happen. Sewage is being diverted to the lake for the last six months, which is making the lake bed toxic. Unless desilting is done, the flora and fauna of the lake will not survive. Without proper desilting, there will be be no future for Bengaluru's water bodies. The concerned authorities have been written to on this matter, but they are not taking any action," he says. He also rues that fishing rights are being given willy-nilly, which means it is being done unscientifically, causing birds to get stuck in the nets and disturbing the ecological balance of the lakes. This too, has been brought to the notice of the civic body, to no avail.

When asked, BV Sathish, Chief Engineer (Lakes), said that the BWSSB is supposed to take up the work of the diversion drain. "I am yet to understand why this and the desilting has not been completed. I will speak to my engineers and find out." P Jagannath Rao, Executive Engineer (Lakes) says, "I inspected the lake 15 days ago and was busy on Tuesday, so I couldn't go. Yes, the walkway is incomplete and the desilting has to be done. Although the BWSSB had agreed to take up the diversion channel, work, they haven't, and we will be doing it."

Rai is hopeful that the civic body fulfils its responsibilities this time around at least, failing which, he plans to take matters to the National Green Tribunal.