Lakes of Bengaluru: The recent showers filled this lake to its brim and unearthed a network of choked drains

The waste weir of this lake was in a dilapidated condition and even the drains connecting the lake were choked for decades.

Lakshmisagara lake comes under the jurisdiction of Chandapura TMC (Town Municipal Corporation).

Spread in 11.07 acre, the Lakshmisagara lake located in Lakshmisagara village adjoining Chandapura in Bengaluru was filled to the brim with rain water on August 30 for the first time in 25 years after the unprecedented rainfall in the month of August. Once known for lotus flowers blooming in the lake, local villagers have highlighted the worsening condition of the lake and pointed out that there have been encroachments of the lake by private parties.

The waste weir of this lake was in a dilapidated condition and even the drains connecting the lake were choked for decades. Captain Santhosh Kumar (Retd), founder of Anekal Environment Protection Federation, said, “This is what I call the power of nature. The waste weir of the lake was in a dilapidated condition for more than two decades. People were not even aware about the drains connecting the lake since it was blocked. During the heavy rainfall in August, the blockages were finally removed by the villagers to allow the water to flow through it or else the nearby areas and roads would have been inundated.”

He added, “The lake has not seen water in the last 25 years and during the recent rain, not only was the lake filled with water, the old network of drains through which the excess water flowed was also reclaimed.”

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Lakshmisagara lake comes under the jurisdiction of Chandapura TMC (Town Municipal Corporation) and the water from this lake flows into Muthanallur lake downstream.

Kumar added that historically the lake was known for the lotus flowers. A villager staying in the vicinity on condition of anonymity said, “Over a period of time, with rapid urbanisation, the waterbody was encroached and untreated sewage entered the lake after the Chandapura municipal corporation connected the underground drainage lines to the water body leading to its pollution. Moreover, the lake was a victim of rampant soil mining.”

Kumar added that the lake needs to be fenced. “The fencing of the lake is required to protect its boundaries. Moreover, the storm water drains connecting the lake should be revived along with the waste weir which needs repairing. If things will be allowed to continue like this maybe in another two-three years we might not see any sign of this lake.”

He added that with the recent NGT’s report on Chandapura lake, people have also started focussing on other lakes. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) in its report in March this year had mentioned about the pollution of Chandapura lake and also highlighted that the borewell around the lake was also contaminated. In the wake of the report by the NGT, the district administration sprung into action and prepared an action report to revive not only Chandapura but other lakes as well in Chandapura TMC.

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Recently, the deputy commissioner, Bengaluru urban, K Srinivas prepared an action report to restore the lakes in the Anekal taluk. The report mentions that eight lakes in Chandapura TMC will be restored.

“The approval to prepare a detailed project report of this lake has been sent to the state government. Once the approval comes, we will prepare a detailed project report and restore the lakes. An equal attention is being given to the drains as well so that rain water can flow without any obstruction. We do not want to see the repetition of Mahadevapura zone where most of the areas were inundated during the rains,” a highly placed government official on condition of anonymity said.

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