After Bengaluru's Varthur lake was seen bubbling over with foam, it seems like Ulsoor lake’s turn to face a slow death.
Providing a rather grotesque view to the city’s iconic lake, recyclable and non- recyclable waste can be seen floating on the edges of the lake. Strangely at the entrance of the lake there is a notice board by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) which urges the visitors to “Help us WAKE the LAKE” by not littering and throwing plastic.
But a cursory glance at the lake shows that BBMP does not believe in practicing what it preaches. Garbage can be seen thickly bordering the peripheries of the lake.
Name the object and you are sure to find it in the lake: be it a toothbrush, shoes, football, thermocol, plastic wrappers.
Wrappers of brands like Lays, Bingo, Godrej, Meera, Nandini, Huggies, etc. can be seen. Everything ranging from international brands to local ones all can be found here.
BBMP contract workers who were spotted cleaning the lake said “The sewage lines are connected to the lake. When it rains, the sewage opposite the lake overflows and all the garbage from there flows into the lake.”
Ironically, this sewage that the worker spoke about is right next to a BBMP Office. Surely enough, the sewage is choked with garbage and it seems quite likely that during the rains this would flow into the lake.
The workers also added that the garbage collected from the lake is dumped in Rampura. It so happens that Rampura has a lake which is unfortunately a dump yard in the making. Besides the garbage flowing in from the sewage, plastic wrappers can also be seen floating at the boat club entrance. Evidently this is thrown by the visitors and this tends to further pollute the lake.
All photos taken by Benita Chacko and Vijayta Lalwani