Just hours after toxic foam flew over commuters at Whitefield main road, the Varthur Lake caught fire on Tuesday morning.
A thick layer of smoke enveloped the Varthur lake after a huge pile of garbage was set on fire, residents alleged.
The garbage was dumped near Munnekolala, where the inlet from Bellandur Lake is located.
“The slum dwellers near the lake segregate the garbage and pile it up in the canal which connects the Bellandur and Varthur lakes. They had set the pile on fire. The fire fighters were not called in as the flames went off after a couple of hours,” said Jagadish Reddy, a Varthur resident, who spotted the fire first.
In February, Bellandur Lake had caught fire and a huge cloud of smoke enveloped most of the apartment buildings in the vicinity.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, on Monday, had shrugged off the condition of the lake and made a cursory statement that it happens every year.
"The Varthur Lake issue will soon be solved as it happens every year. The concerned minister as well as the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is taking care of it. Also the Karnataka Government is racing against time to clean up the Bellandur. The National Green Tribunal has allotted it a month to do so," Siddaramaiah told the media on Monday.
This isn’t the first time that a lake in the city has produced massive soap suds. While Varthur has frothed with chemical effluents several times in the past, Bellandur is another lake in the city prone to foam.
In fact, the Bellandur lake has caught fire twice.
The Bellandur Lake had caught fire on May 7. When alert residents had informed the fire department, they did not show up as they claimed to not have equipment to put out the fire.
Residents allege that the lake catches fire almost on a daily basis.
“The previous fire was the biggest we have seen. The one which happened today (Sunday) comes second. But almost every day the lake catches fire and now it has become a common occurrence for people living here,” said Seema, a Bellandur resident.