BENGALURU: Fifteen years after it was revived, Vengayyana Kere or KR Puram Lake as it is better known, is literally in the dumps. Garbage collected in auto-tippers from households in KR Puram and adjacent areas is sorted on the banks of the lake and shifted to compactors, creating a huge mess.
A complaint was raised on the Sahaya app on November 4 and the same was closed within two days, saying that search is on for a new place to transfer the garbage and it will be shifted as soon as a suitable alternative is found.
Spread over 70 acres, the lake was revived in 2003-05.
“This lake used to be a pristine waterbody. It was developed between 2003 and 2005, but sadly wasn’t maintained after that. The lake has been facing several other issues like sewage being let into it,” said Eshwarappa M, president of KR Puram Lake Protection Action Forum.
“They have closed the compliant as ‘issue dissolved’. Telling us that they are looking for another place is not a solution. They must come up with one. We cannot afford to lose more lakes,” Eshwarappa pointed out.
Atleast10 garbage trucks are seen around the lake banks at any point of time. Small heaps of garbage left behind draw more waste. And the leftover muck ends up releasing leachate into the waterbody.
Balaji Raghotam, another member volunteering for the lake conservation, said, “We have been working towards betterment of this lake for nearly seven years now. It is almost impossible to stand in its vicinity for even two minutes due to the foul smell. Just because there is a heap of garbage, people from meat stalls too started dumping their trash here. The smell of rotting meat is intolerable.”
Unsure who the custodian of the lake is, residents have been doing the rounds of both BBMP office and the forest department. Eshwarappa said: “BBMP tells us it’s not their problem because it is under the forest department. The forest department tells that it is under the Palike. Why is there no clarity on something as basic as this?”
A senior official from the civic agency confirmed that the lake was under the forest department and has been transferred and handed over to BBMP now.
Sreenidhi, environmental officer, BBMP, said, “We are aware of this issue. It is not a segregation point. Autos and compactors happen to park there, but we will get this sorted out at the earliest. Once we identify a place, we will shift them from here.”
According to locals, the spot is cleared once in a while when they raise a din but what they want is the entire garbage operation to stop on the lake’s shores. On Tuesday too, BBMP personnel cleaned up the lake area.