The National Green Tribunal asked the Karnataka government on Tuesday to submit a detailed action plan to clean up the Bellandur Lake within 10 days, expressing unhappiness over its reply on the matter.
The bench, headed by Swatanter Kumar, asked senior government officials to prepare a working plan on four issues – removal of silt from the lake; removal of municipal solid waste, construction, demolition and other waste from the lake; upgradation of existing and upcoming sewage treatment plants (capacity, technology and parameters) in residential complexes around the lake to the standards prescribed by the Central Pollution Control Board; and the treatment of sewage.
This comes after the green court had pulled up senior state government officials responsible for the upkeep of the lake on August 17.
The officials who were pulled up included the Additional Chief Secretary of the Urban Development Department, the CEO of the Karnataka Lake Development and Conservation Authority (KLCDA) and the Chairperson of Karnataka State Pollution Control Board.
The tribunal also directed all the senior officials to personally inspect compliances before placing facts in front of the Tribunal on September 8.
During the arguments, when the Additional Advocate General told the court that all municipal solid waste, construction and demolition waste has been removed, the Tribunal asked the CEO of KLCDA to make a statement on record. The officer refused to do so when the court told that a Commissioner would inspect the claim.
The AAG also admitted that out of 480 MLDs of waste water/sewage discharged towards the Bellandur Lake, only 308 MLDs is being currently treated.
The reasons for froth in the lake is the presence of phosphorus from the detergent waste of residential complexes, which the existing sewage treatment plants are unable to treat.
Previously, on August 17, the NGT had sought a reply from the state government officers on four questions – how many rajakaluve (storm water drains) the government has cleared; how much waste has the government collected from the storm water drains, particularly from the ones by the lake; where the waste is being dumped; and what preventive steps the state was taking.
The NGT took suo motu cognisance of the matter in February, when the lake caught fire for the second time.