Something "fishy" in Bengaluru lakes, but authorities won't learn

Bengaluru, Mar 8: It appears that the authorities in Bengaluru have not learnt their lesson and this resulted in a large number of fish being killed at the Ulsoor lake which is in the heart of the city.

A similar incident took place last year at the Gowdanapalya Lake bund, which resulted in large scale fish kill in Dorekere.

In yesterday's incident nearly a 1,000 fish were killed while last year 20,000 fish were found dead. Last year there was a blame game between the BBMP and the BDA over the issue while this time the former refuses to acknowledge the problem.

The incident:
In the Gowdanapalya lake incident, the complaint was that it had become a cesspool of sewage and had been damaged by the land mafia. As a result of the tank bund being damaged highly contaminated water gushed into the lake resulting in the death of the fish.

In the Ulsoor incident the BBMP says that it is an annual occurrence. Fish kill is a result of reduced dissolved oxygen in the lake and this happens during the summer a BBMP official informed OneIndia. However environmentalists are not convinced and have a different line of argument.

Environmentalists have blamed the incident on the release of sewage water into the lakes. Prakash Javadekar, the Environment Minister who has already ordered a probe into the issue says that the fantastic eco-system of Bengaluru has been destroyed because of residential colonies which release discharge into the lakes.

Who will take the blame:

The question now is who will take the blame. In the incident of last year one got to witness a feud between the BDA and BBMP on the issue. While the two authorities fought over the issue, the residents blamed both. The BDA had accused the Bangalore Urban Deputy Commissioner for not initiating action against those encroaching upon the lake.

The BDA also said that the BBMP should be held responsible as they are the ones who get the funds to maintain lakes. BBMP on the other hand held BDA accountable saying they were the custodians.

In the Ulsoor incident, the BBMP has not even acknowledged the problem and quickly blamed it on the weather. While the weather is one factor, the authorities are not looking at the manner in which sewage water is entering into the lakes. Such water is meant to enter the drains and not the lakes. Urgent measures are needed or else the once beautiful eco-system of the city will become history.

OneIndia News