Lake Encroachment
A STEP TOWARDS BETTERMENT!
LAKE PRESERVATION
Encroachment is a situation in real estate where a property owner violates the property rights of his neighbor by building on or extending a structure to the neighbor’s land or property. Of the total 1,547 lakes (urban district has 837 lakes and rural district 710 lakes) in Bengaluru, which is spread across 57,932 acres in both urban and rural districts, 10,785 acres have been encroached upon by both government and private agencies.
ACCORDING TO BENGALURU DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY…
Bengaluru Development Authority (BDA) has been the single largest government agency to have encroached on 23 lakes to an extent of 384 acres in Bengaluru North, South and East taluks. The Authority has created numerous residential layouts on lands classified as dried or dead lakes.
NEED FOR AWARENESS
More than 90% of Bangalore’s lakes are polluted or encroached Nowhere is it more apparent than in the city of Bangalore, once famous for its beautiful lakes created by Kempe Gowdas and the Wodeyars of Mysore and then the British. The wetlands in the city are now dying a slow death thanks to rapid growth and urbanisation resulting in encroachment and discharge of sewage and industrial effluents. Most lakes in the Bangalore region were constructed in the sixteenth century by damming the natural valley systems by constructing bunds. They met the drinking water, irrigation and fishing needs of the community and were known to have a positive impact on the ecology and microclimate of the city. They not only help by replenishing the groundwater resources in the vicinity, but also prevented flooding, treated wastewater, arrested sediment loads and functioned as a productive ecosystem.
