The report of the committee, headed by Congress legislator KB Koliwad, mentioned that BDA allotted 65,000 sites on encroached lake beds spread over 3,500 acres. However, the committee is might not uproot these structures, reported TOI.
The newspaper quoted a panel member saying, “BDA has encroached upon more than 3,500 acres of lake bed and allotted over 65,000 sites on them. The committee will not suggest razing of these residential buildings on humanitarian grounds.”
Over 1800 lakes in and around Bengaluru were studied by the committee. Koliwad, claims that the current market value of the usurped land is Rs 1 lakh crore, reported TOI.
The 11-member committee was set up in October 2014 accused private parties, including leading builders and politicians and others by government agencies like BDA and BBMP of being responsible for 80% of these encroachments.
Koliwad told The News Minute that the committee will be releasing a list of encroachers on January 8 and based on their response the committee would be submitting a detailed report with recommendations. However, the committee has issued show cause notices to the encroachers.
A member told TOI that more lake beds in urban areas have been encroached upon in than in rural parts and they have decided to recommend fixing of boundaries for lake and not uproot the buildings already constructed on the lakes.
This is inspite of the Karnataka government empowering all civic agencies, including BBMP and BDA, to arrest those who pollute or encroach lakes without a warrant, which they could not do earlier.
Sridhar Pabbisetti of Namma Bengaluru Foundations said that the fact the committee is contemplating on going lenient on these encroachers itself is setting a bad example. “It is a mistake to condone encroachers. Uprooting could be an option but the most important step should be punishing these officials who legalized these projects through different actions by approving building plans and giving power connections etc. The people who wilfully commit these actions by selling these lands to other should also be held accountable,” he said.