more-in The city’s civic body and development authority are once again playing pass the parcel with the city’s lakes, with neither agency willing to take ownership of or invest money towards revival of waterbodies. Citing lack of funds, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has expressed its inability to revive 60 lakes which were until a few months ago under the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA). In December 2016, the BDA handed over the custody of these lakes to the BBMP, saying it did not have the money to revive them. Now, it appears that the BBMP, too, is playing the same game. In a pre-budget bid, the BBMP has written to the State government seeking a grant of ?400 crore for the rejuvenation and maintenance of the 60 lakes. M.K. Gunashekhar, chairman, Standing Committee on Finance and Taxation, BBMP, said the civic body did not want to take up revival of the lakes without funds. “It is an additional financial burden, and the BBMP, which is not equipped to bear this, has been forced to do so,” he said. The BDA and BBMP have long been sparring over taking responsibility of the city’s lakes. — A.N. Yellappa Reddy, Environmentalist While citizens have been campaigning to save Bengaluru’s lakes, the BDA and the BBMP have been sparring over their custodianship. It was only in 2012 that the BDA was given custody of 117 lakes by the State government, of which it has returned 86 to the civic body. Sources in Karnataka Lake Conservation and Development Authority said the BDA owed them ?65 crore, as a quarter of the lake cess collected is to be earmarked for the body. A.N. Yellappa Reddy, environmentalist and member of BDA committee on lakes, said there was no transparency in the funding for lake rejuvenation projects in the city. “The two agencies (Bangalore Development Authority and Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) have long been sparring over taking responsibility of the city’s lakes. And as a saying goes, the lakes are like children caught between sparring parents,” he said, and added that even when the State government provides funds, they concentrate only on civil works that are contract driven and neglect the hydrological aspects. Leo Saldanha of Environment Support Group said that most of the lake rejuvenation projects followed a contract-driven model. “The N.K. Patil report on lakes in the city recommends formation of lake protection committees, which should draw up rejuvenation plans, submit them to the ward committees, which should approve these plans, and the BBMP take up work,” he said. However, neither lake protection committees nor ward committees are a reality yet.

Stay updated with all the Bangalore Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.