The installation of three sluice gates in the 900-acre Bellandur lake, which includes one on the Yemlur side and another downstream at Varthur lake, is expected to take at least another month.
Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) officials said one of the sluice gates will be fully functional after the installation of a gear system, which is likely to be put in place over the next one week.
The sluice gates are being set up to ensure that there is no flooding and as a measure to curb frothing from pollutants in the water.
BDA Commissioner Rakesh Singh said, “The major reason to set this up was to avert flooding. Also, the frothing in water happens because of friction of junk in the water. Both these things will get sorted out with sluice gates.”
Test run
Last week, when the test run was done for the sluice gates at Bellandur, there was no frothing, a senior engineer in BDA said, adding that the successful test run had proved the utility of sluice gates in averting flooding.
“Earlier, there was no outflow of water. All the water was getting collected there and overflowing. We can now regulate the water according to requirement and, hence, the low-lying areas in the vicinity need not worry about flooding,” the official added.
Residents want work sped up
Residents have urged the BDA to speed up the process of installing the sluice gates in the wake of the monsoon setting in. “They had earlier promised that it would be completed by July. We are already seeing floods in Kerala. If there is heavy rain in the city, we will have a problem in managing the situation. The water holding capacity of the lake has reduced drastically owing to silt accumulation,” said Jagadeesh Reddy of Varthur Rising.
‘Maintenance is important’
Seema Sharma, a resident of Bellandur, felt it was good to exercise caution. “They are telling us that the frothing has not happened after the sluice gates were put in place. But we need to wait and watch. Frothing also depends on the weather and tends to increase when there is heavy rainfall. Moreover, installation is not the end of it. We also need to ensure that it functions well once it’s put in place,” she said.