Bellandur Lake

Bellandur Lake is believed to be originally a tributary of the Dakshina Pinakini river (also known as the Ponnaiyar River). The lake itself was constructed during the reign of the Western Ganga Dynasty, who ruled between the 4-5th century to the 10th century CE. Evidences of early human settlement have been excavated along the bed of the Bellandur lake by historian Dr. PV Krishnamurthy.[3]

Bellandur Lake is a major water body which is located in one of the three main valleys of Bengaluru. It forms a part of the Ponnaiyar River catchment, and water from Bellandur flows to Varthur Lake, ultimately joining the Pennar River. Currently, most of Bengaluru's treated and untreated sewage is released into Bellandur Lake, severely polluting it, resulting in a depletion of wildlife in and around the lake. Residential and commercial activities in the region have resulted in increasing the silt deposition in the lake and have caused loss of underground water recharge.[4]

The Bellandur lake was a prominent catchment area with a good green cover and was a watering hole for the region's numerous, indigenous wildlife. But 30 years of unplanned urbanization have taken a toll on the lake, now several species are gone from the area, including kingfishers, parakeets, wood pigeons, kites, cobras, rat snakes, monitor lizards.[5] As more and more large apartment complexes come up on the lakes shores, more such species will disappear.

Locals remove the plant cover on a daily basis, but it grows back rapidly, killing fish and aquatic life.

The problem goes back to 1980s when unplanned growth broke the chain of tanks and lakes feeding the Bellandur lake. This reduced the amount of rain water reaching the lake to recharge it. The development also resulted in letting in untreated sewage water from housing societies and using the lake surrounding area to dump solid waste. Even industries from surrounding areas started dumping their waste into the lake.[6][7] The combination of all these factors has led to a decline in the once robust ecosystem of the lake which now resembles a stinking cesspool. Residents in neighboring areas complain of an odious stench that rises from the lake as a result of uninhibited sewage and chemical dumping from near by industrial units.[1] The presence of industrial chemicals in the water causes the lake surface to catch fire regularly.[8]

The main source of the problem comes from the fact that the lake doesn't completely come under any one civic body. The lake is under the jurisdiction of multiple agencies and civic bodies thus leading to lack of accountability.[9]

Sunset over Lake Bellandur

Protests against the pollution and destruction of the lake and its surroundings has been going on for more than 20 years.

1997: Farmers from Bellandur lake and surrounding areas formed an association called Raitha Horata Samithi and started opposing the proposed outer ring road linking ITPL and Electronic City.[10] Same year, environmental activist Ramamurthy along with Jagannath Reddy, Panchayat President and other villagers initiated court proceedings to get BWSSB to clean-up the lake. As a result, the STP at the inlet was upgraded. Again in 1997, when Bellandur lake was declared unfit for water sports during National Games, for the first time it drew media attention to the issue.[10]

1999: Ramamurthy filed a PIL in the High Court against the inaction of the government and other government agencies to protect environment and lakes in Bengaluru. The High Court ordered BWSSB to provide proper sewage network in the city to stop sewage from entering lakes. When BWSSB did not follow the court order, the petitioners filed a contempt case. The HC referred the case to Lok Adalat. In 2002, Lok Adalat directed all government departments including BBMP, BDA, BWSSB, Minor Irrigation, KSPCB and Revenue Department to form a committee and look into the status of Bellandur Lake.[10]

2000: Residents association groups of Koramangala joined in and started lobbying with the government to stop mixing of sewage in storm water drains.[11]

2006: RTI activist C H Ram and M V K Anil kumar filed an RTI application with minor irrigation department. But they never got a response. Between 2006 and 2009, RTI activist Ram Ram filed a number of applications to Tahsildar East, and to the Executive Engineer – Minor Irrigation. He also filed one at the DC (urban) Bangalore District, to know about the illegal encroachments and dumping around the tank.[10]

2008: Varthur MLA Krishnappa took up the issue and approached the then Chief Minister for intervention.[10]

2010:  BBMP adopted a Lake Rejuvenation Program. Under this program, the lake received new fencing around its perimeter, few saplings were planted, and the lake was cleaned up.

The government resorted to several initiatives like delivering potable water to villages around Bellandur, introducing baby fish to ensure the livelihood of fisherman is not impacted, planting of sapling in the buffer zone of the lake. However, the main issue of encroachment, emptying of untreated sewage water and industrial waste in to the lakes and illegal solid waste dumping did not stop.[11]

Several citizens have formed pressure groups and are working both online as well as on ground to save the lake. Significant of them are

1. Sanchita Jha who started an online petition “Clean-up Bellandur Lake” in 2015 to get wider support to the issue. She also started a Facebook group called Save Bellandur, Save Bengaluru. The multi-front online campaign[12] mobilized people of the city, with around fifty thousand petitioners, gaining wide-scale media attention and forcing the CM to direct the authorities to draw up an action plan.

2. Gautam Dayal, a 15-year-old student who started an online campaign savebellandurlake.org

2015: Kupendra Reddy, MP, Rajya Sabha, filed a PIL in the High Court of Karnataka to reduce the pollution in Bellandur lake and restore and rejuvenate it.[13]

2017: Kupendra Reddy raised the Bellandur Lake issue with National Green Tribunal, thus bringing the lakes issue of Bengaluru to NGT's notice. NGT directed the state government and concerned authorities to prepare an action plan to control and prevent pollution of the Bellandur lake and initiate restoration and rejuvenation process. It also directed the Industries in the catchment area to be closed and the housing societies and upcoming buildings to construct sewage treatment plants (STPs).[14][13]

In March 2017, the state government invited experts from the UK and Israel to help resolve environmental issues.[15]

• Media related to Bellandur Lake at Wikimedia Commons
• Save Bellandur Lake Citizen's initiative
• History of Bellandur Lake