HOT TOPICS

SPOTLIGHT AGENCIES

End of bellandur / rise of concrete

379

Written By vmenon - 3 June, 2013

Bangalore lakes BDA BWSSB Analysis LDA environment Bellandur Lake KIADB

The two media links below are fairly self explanatory of what can be called a potentiol ecologocal disaster right here in banglore. The strories of bellandur lake are based on an IISc report  that is attached to this post.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/karnataka/multicrore-project-swallows-bellandur-wetland/article4775708.ece

 
In a nutshell:
  • Kiadb and karnataka udyog mitra  single window) have allotted about 80 acres in the belandur lake bed area for a dubious project.
  • The companies allotted are manipal ETA( which has sushil mantri as  a director) and coremind.
  • Project is of huge malls, many residential cpomplexes and an sez and commercial complexes. LOoks more ;like a real estate development than any industrial venture.
  • The land in the BDA masterplan 2015 is termed "sensitive" area.In previous cdps these were parks /public utiliies etc.
  • KIadb act seesm to supersede all other local bodies, rasinig questions of validity of local giovernment, elected reps etc.
  • BDA/BBMP have not been consulted in the project or land which lies very much in BDA planning are and BBMP municipal limits.
  • The water requirement of the project is more than whatisi currently available for koramangla and HSR.
  • Bwssb has not given clearance but the project is going on.
  • Coremind has not got environmental clearance but work on the ground goes on.
  • Even the terms of the KIADB allotment seems to have been violated ... raj akalves encoraoched , topograpghy of region changed, local autrhorities not consulted etc.
  • The project envisages 14000vehicles parking space!!
  • Belandur lake ..be damned..
 
Guess it calls for a PIL ..news on that shortly.
 
vmenon
PS: IISc report embedded here through scribd, for ease of access and readability

IISC Report on Bellandur Lake

COMMENTS

citizen's protest

murali772 - 24 March, 2014 - 13:07

Some 1,500 Bangaloreans, who gathered on Sunday to protest mega projects coming up in the Bellandur Lake catchment area at Agara, had a strong statement to make: Any project, be it government or private, shouldn’t move ahead without consulting residents of the neighbourhood. Further, the government needs to adopt a sustainable model in the city’s development.

For the full report in the ToI, click here

a view of the massive protest:

 

Pipeline to convey 150 million litres/ month?:

unsavoury goings on

murali772 - 27 March, 2014 - 11:43

Post by a member of the organising committee in "savekoramangala yahoo-group":

Now that the event is over, I would like to share some information.

Throughout yesterday, upto even 10 PM at night, Mantri tried every dirty trick in the book to try to get Police to cancel permission for the event. From calling on high police officials, threatening them with contempt of court charges, and yes -- even threatening to unleash goondas on us, the total sordid story needs to be told.

If it were not for an upright police officer who refused to bend and told them to go to hell, they may well have prevailed yesterday. We still have police officers of integrity in our Police Department. All power to them.

Can anyone sink lower ? Our message to Mantri has to be clear -- that we will stand firm in the face of tactics that are better suited to the gutter than the boardroom.

I have generally sought to differentiate the ways of Corporates as the using "lobby" power to change laws to suit them (even if against overall public interest), but generally playing by it thereafter, as compared to the "mafia" who can't bother with laws whatsoever. And, my thinking has been that given the current vibrancy of our democracy, with the Civil Society and the media playing an active watch-dog role, we are better off dealing with the lobbyists. But, all that is in the supposition that the lobbyists do not turn mafioso.

The country's economy needs to grow considerably if we are to help the huge sections of population to rise above the poverty line that they are currently under. And, there are enough avenues open for growth and enough ways of going about it with minimum damage to the environment. What is required of Corporates is to work transparently, taking people into confidence, rather than going about things stealthily. If not, conflict becomes inevitable.

update

murali772 - 3 October, 2014 - 12:39

The following is the text of an update on the subject made by a member of the organising committee in "savekoramangala yahoo-group":
 
Those following the issue will be aware of the fact that the National Green Tribunal, Southern Bench, Chennai in April this year stayed all further work on the project. Although there would appear to have been sporadic violations of the stay by Mantri, the work has stayed halted, by and large for the last 6 months.
 
All of a sudden, on the 17th of September, the Southern Bench of the NGT recused itself from this case for reasons that have yet to be ascertained. It is particularly perplexing in view of 8 months having passed from the time the case started getting heard. Readers may draw their own conclusions as to what happened and who was responsible.
 
The case is now before the Principal bench of the NGT in Delhi, and the next hearing is listed for 7th November. The interim stay order given in April continues. 
 
A separate PIL filed in the Karnataka High Court continues with its focus on other violations of law and process, while the NGT concentrates on the environmental violations.
 
In the meantime, today, citizens noticed Mantri openly re-starting work at the site in violation of the interim stay orders. We were forced to file a complaint before the jurisdictional police at HSR Police Station this evening.
 
We hope all of you continue to support this cause vigorously. Preserving Bellandur lake is a cause worth fighting for and I am sure all of you will step up to the plate if and when the need arises.
 

I think the time has to come

amithpallavoor - 3 October, 2014 - 14:52

I think the time has to come to have these chaps apprehended. Every lake shall be encroached if these builders are allowed to have their way.

govts at Karnataka failed to protect

Sanjeev - 24 March, 2014 - 19:52

Sorry to see previous govt and current govt at GOK have failed to protect bangalore enivronment and JNNRUM is beeing pushed to build more SWD arround Koramanagal by the Bangalore incharge minister.

Same situation, if we had lake arround majestic area,  Mysore road Anjaneya Temple would bee flooded even for small 20mm rain.    Bangalore central has lost all lakes for conceret development and now its outskerts of Bnagalore in firing line.

Will young MLAs of Banglore, its your future, do have any interest to save Bangalore or save yourself???  Its unfortunate that any educated elected reps will not be able to save Bangalore unless they have will and care  for Bangalore

PRAJA.IN COMMENT GUIDELINES

Posting Guidelines apply for comments as well. No foul language, hate mongering or personal attacks. If criticizing third person or an authority, you must be fact based, as constructive as possible, and use gentle words. Avoid going off-topic no matter how nice your comment is. Moderators reserve the right to either edit or simply delete comments that don't meet these guidelines. If you are nice enough to realize you violated the guidelines, please save Moderators some time by editing and fixing yourself. Thanks!