Detailed Project Report for restoring 150 Bengaluru lakes to be completed by November end

Speaking with indianexpress.com, an official from Zilla Panchayat, Bengaluru Urban said: “We have asked EMPRI to take this project up. The EMPRI has called the tender and a private firm VIMOS Technocrats Pvt Ltd is preparing the DPR. As of now, we have received the DPRs for 74 lakes and the remaining will be prepared by the end of this month. We have a total of 462 lakes and the DPRs for all these lakes will be prepared at a cost of Rs 11 crore. While the Zilla Panchayat has allocated Rs 3.51 crore, the rest will be borne by the government. In the first phase, the DPRs for 150 lakes will be prepared. In the second phase under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the DPRs of another 312 lakes will be prepared and their restoration will be carried out. The revival of lakes is important for the quality of water and the groundwater table. This is an important project.”

The list of 150 lakes includes those waterbodies that are above 25 acres or are polluted. “Out of 150, we have found that 76 lakes are polluted and the rest are above 25 acres… All the lakes have to be restored as per the DPR. I will also see which of the lakes have been restored without the preparation of the DPRs,” he added.

The DPRs will give the cost estimation of the core and non-core areas for lake development. “Under the core area, issues crucial for the restoration of the lake like improvement of the lake bed, and sedimentation pond are listed and the non-core areas cover issues related to beautification of the lake which include construction of the walkway, rest room, etc,” the official added.

Captain (retd) Santhosh Kumar, assistant commissioner of the commercial tax department, Karnataka, who played a pivotal role in the fight for the restoration of the lakes, said: “I am very happy that the government has chosen EMPRI to prepare the DPRs for the lakes. This is completely legal to do and it’s mandatory as per the KTCDA (Karnataka Tank Conservation and Development Authority) Act. The DPRs can always be referred to if anything goes wrong with the lake development later on and ensures a 100 per cent survey for boundary and buffer zone marking as mandated by the Karnataka High Court and the NGT (National Green Tribunal)… lake restoration should always be in tandem with the DPR…”