Bengaluru: Roping in industries to help it with the job, the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) has begun a drive to revive 937 small lakes in the five urban taluks of Bengaluru South, North, East and West and Anekal.
While the initial seed money will be provided by the board from its water cess fund, it is also counting on industries helping it with the project under their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme.
The board, which has begun work on reviving the Hosahalli Lake on Sarjapur Road on a pilot basis, will later tackle a few lakes on Airport Road and in other areas, says KSPCB chairman, Dr Vaman Acharya, explaining that the smaller lakes are dying because canals taking rain water to them are blocked, their catchment areas are destroyed, brick-makers are encroaching on them, sand and surface soil are removed from their beds and roads are being built through them.
“I believe it is better to have polluted lakes than no lakes. First we will concentrate on improving the catchment area, declaring a no development zone around lakes, removing all obstructions that prevent flow of water to them, removing roads that have come up between lakes, making bunds and taking up stone pitching around them,” Dr Acharya said.
The board has also decided to limit the depth of the lakes to between six and 10 feet, to allow people to make use of the available water. “Once all this is done we will concentrate on beautification of these lakes by planting trees and placing benches around them,” he added.
Source: deccanchronicle
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